


Error: User Not Found

by RandomMeerkitty



Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: (but they're not really enemies per se), Apex Games, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Crypto and Octane were online friends, Crypto wants to take down the games, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, For the most part, How Do I Tag, M/M, Multiple Relationships, Octane wants the games to stay, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Alternating, POV Third Person, Slow Burn, Wraith wants to get revenge, but also adding darksparks, but things went to shit and they fell out of contact, eventually tho not at first, first chapter structure is not how the rest will be, lifeline has a crush on bangalore, main focus is cryptane, meet again years later, most pairings are gay tbh, the rest will be written like normal
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:34:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 22,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23794717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RandomMeerkitty/pseuds/RandomMeerkitty
Summary: AU where Octavio (User Stimtrain) and Tae Joon (User PTJ) were friends online before either of them joined the games, four years before canon time.  Then, Tae Joon's account goes dark and Octavio wonders where his best-online-friend has suddenly disappeared to but he doubts he'll ever get an answer.A few years pass and Octane is able to join the games and he’s hyped as fuck.  Still, part of him kinda wishes he could chat to that dude he used to talk to about the Apex Games and tell him he had actually become a Legend himself!!  But he’s got no means of communication.  User PTJ is just a distance memory.  Someone he'll remember but never get the chance to meet or talk to again.Then, a few months pass after Octavio becomes Octane and suddenly some strange dude enters the game, calling himself Crypto and something about him??? seems familiar???  Stranger still, Crypto seems to know a lot about Octane (then again, he knows a lot about everyone in the games...), but will he ever realise who this mysterious person really is?
Relationships: Bangalore | Anita Williams/Lifeline | Ajay Che, Crypto | Park Tae Joon/Octane | Octavio Silva, Wattson | Natalie Paquette/Wraith | Renee Blasey, side pairings: - Relationship
Comments: 25
Kudos: 80





	1. Profile Suspended

**Author's Note:**

> I had this desire to write a Cryptane fic for the past few weeks... and then I saw a post on Tumblr saying that, while cute, the user never thought it would work because Octane and Crypto are vastly different (in terms of their opinion on the Apex Games). And that gave me an idea - to write a fic about Crypto trying to destroy the Games from the inside (as I assume he is doing in the canon of game itself) while Octane is hyped to play the Games. Would he really be against it? Or would the idea of toppling a massive, powerful co-operation be a pretty good replacement rush? Who knows! I've only got the first 8 chapters plotted out and that's nowhere near done oop 
> 
> Disclaimer;  
> I know very little about Korea or Korean (same with Spanish/Mexican tbh oop). The phrases I've used I've put a translation note at the bottom of the notes BUT I'm not 100% sure if they're right. If you read this, and know I used them wrong, please correct me!

31.12.28  
Private chat between: User Stimtrain, User PTJ  
(20:03) Stimtrain: im so bored waiting 4 the next season 2 come out omg how much longer  
(20:05) PTJ: You have no patience. It will be out tomorrow. Literally in a couple of hours. New Year, new season.  
(20:05) Stimtrain: new year 2 far away  
(20:05) Stimtrain: need it now  
(20:05) Stimtrain: how much longer PT  
(20:08) Stimtrain: omg PT  
(20:08) Stimtrain: dude u take so  
(20:08) Stimtrain: u betr b riting a novel wiv how long ur taking  
(20:11) Stimtrain: omg im ded u hav taken so long  
(20:12) PTJ: Sorry I was asking my sister – she knows a bit more about it than I do. If you do live on Psamathe, I believe it will be on at 4pm? It’s only another 16 hours or so.  
(20:12) Stimtrain: omg  
(20:12): PTJ: Well less than 16 now, technically.  
(20:12) Stimtrain: dude thats so long:(((((  
(20:13) PTJ: I know, but it’s almost here! We could watch it together, if you want to?  
(20:13) Stimtrain: omg yes  
(20:13) Stimtrain: that would b cool man  
(20:14) Stimtrain: tho if ur like 1 sec l8 i wont w8 4 u  
(20:16) PTJ: That doesn’t surprise me – but I look forward to it! 😊

01.01.29  
Private chat between: User Stimtrain, User PTJ  
(00:00) Stimtrain: happy new year pt  
(00:02) PTJ: Right on the dot – expected nothing less from you! Happy New Year, Stim! 😊 Geonbae!

(14:54) Stimtrain: omg:((((( its still so far away  
(14:54) Stimtrain: pt im so bored im gonna die 4 rl  
(14:56) PTJ: Almost done with work, Stim. Can’t talk at the moment!  
(14:56) Stimtrain: omg ur so boring  
(14:56) Stimtrain: b fun n ignore work  
(14:57) Stimtrain: pay attention 2 me  
(14:57) Stimtrain: o btw look @ this new helmet i got 4 my bike its so fkin cool man  
(14:57) <>  
(14:58) <>  
(15:00) Stimtrain: 1 hr!!!!!!!  
(15:01) Stimtrain: 59mins!!!!!  
(15:02) PTJ: I’m out of work. On my way home.  
(15:02) PTJ: Also very cool helmet! Why does it say Plus Ultra? Does it mean something?  
(15:02) Stimtrain: omg dude how do u not no i thought u were a smart nerd  
(15:03) Stimtrain: smh man turns out ur just a stupid nerd  
(15:03) Stimtrain: its spanish meaning further beyond  
(15:04) Stimtrain: like literally the national motto of spain jajaja n my dad is p obsessed wiv earth bcuz my fam apparently made it p big back there n here  
(15:05) Stimtrain: so like the motto kinda stuck wiv me a bit too???  
(15:05) Stimtrain: idk it just sounded cool imo jajaja  
(15:10) PTJ: Ah that’s pretty cool! 😊  
(15:11) PTJ: I should be back home in time for the start of the Apex Games. I’ll message you when I get home, so we can make sure to sync up and watch together  
(15:11) Stimtrain: klkl c u soon m8  
(15:12) Stimtrain: plz hurry tho  
(15:12) Stimtrain: like fr if ur a sec l8 i wont wait so dont sulk if i start b4 u get home  
(15:40) Stimtrain: dude plz tell me ur almost home  
(15:40) Stimtrain: omg ur still offline  
(15:48) Stimtrain: pt im gonna  
(15:48) Stimtrain: omg finally ur online panic ovr  
(15:52) PTJ: You have absolutely no patience, Stim…

26.03.29  
Private chat between: User Stimtrain, User PTJ  
(16:01) Stimtrain: smh pt ur taking 2 long im starting w/o u rip  
(16:05) PTJ: ☹  
(16:05) Stimtrain: dont u do that ur the 1 l8 2 the finale  
(16:05) Stimtrain: b quikr next time amigo  
(16:08) PTJ: Sorry – I’ll be on in a moment! I just needed to help my sister with the job we were working on.  
(16:08) Stimtrain: k but im not rewinding 4 u jaja  
(16:09) PTJ: I never expected you to 😊  
(16:10) Stimtrain: rip the dude i was hoping would win got shot by that new girl  
(16:11) PTJ: No spoilers, Stim!  
(16:11) Stimtrain: omg then hurry tf up!!!!

28.03.29  
Private chat between: User Stimtrain, User PTJ  
(13:03) Stimtrain: :(((( how long until the next season of apex????  
(13:04) PTJ: It literally just ended – it will probably be at least a month before the next one!  
(13:05) Stimtrain: im so bored  
(13:05) Stimtrain: wanna see that new girl kick some ass again  
(13:05) Stimtrain: wot was her name again???? void????  
(13:07) PTJ: Wraith, if you mean the one who won the most recent game?  
(13:07) Stimtrain: si! her! she was so cool how tf did she teleport places???? Dude ur good wiv tech what did she use????  
(13:10) PTJ: I’m not sure – I’ve never seen anything like that before. At first I thought she just had a tactical cloak on but there was a strange… ripple? that followed behind her each time, so perhaps it was some new technology?  
(13:11) Stimtrain: ok nerd  
(13:11) PTJ: You asked!  
(13:11) Stimtrain: jajajaja

(16:29) Stimtrain: yo!!!!!  
(16:31) PTJ: Yeah?  
(16:31) Stimtrain: next season has been confirmed!!!!  
(16:32) PTJ: Heol? Wow! When for?  
(16:32) Stimtrain: ugh in may so far away:((((  
(16:35) PTJ: That’s less than a month away  
(16:35) Stimtrain: 2 long  
(16:38) PTJ: I’ll try to keep you entertained until the next season  
(16:38) Stimtrain: jajaja  
(16:38) Stimtain: will you now?;)))))  
(16:41) PTJ: Not like that!

01.04.29  
Private chat between: User Stimtrain, User PTJ  
(09:03) PTJ: Sorry if I go a bit quiet for the next few days. Boss just fired both my sister and me. Going to be job hunting for a bit…

(12:47) Stimtrain: omg just woke up dude that sucks soz m8  
(12:47) Stimtrain: screw him tho dont deserve u  
(12:48) Stimtrain: ur a 10/10 ull find something soon dw  
(12:53) PTJ: Thanks, Stim😊 here’s hoping!

05.04.29  
(15:03) Stimtrain: u evr done the gauntlet?  
(15:05) PTJ: Not myself, no – though my sister has done it before. She got a pretty good time, I think, though she was pretty disappointed with it.  
(15:05) Stimtrain: wot did she get???  
(15:07) PTJ: I’m not sure off the top of my head – just under a minute or something?  
(15:07) Stimtrain: jajajaja that’s not v good man no wonder she was disappointed lol  
(15:08) PTJ: How fast is it meant to be?  
(15:08) Stimtrain: current world record is like 13s in the sim  
(15:10) PTJ: Daebak – no wonder she was disappointed in herself…  
(15:10) Stimtrain: exactly jajaja  
(15:10) Stimtrain: anyway i was thinking of doing a run of it myself soon  
(15:11) Stimtrain: one is coming close to where i live  
(15:11) Stimtrain: thought it might b fun to try while i wait for the next apex games to finally start!!!  
(15:12) PTJ: Still want to be a famous daredevil, then?  
(15:12) Stimtrain: man im already a famous daredevil  
(15:12) Stimtrain: u just aint looked me up yet clearly:(((  
(15:12) Stimtrain: horrible person  
(15:12) Stimtrain: and u call urself my friend  
(15:13) PTJ: Don’t say it like that! ☹  
(15:13) Stimtrain: jajaja im pullin ur leg chill amigo  
(15:15) Stimtrain: tbh idek what u wanna do wiv ur life so no judgements rly  
(15:17) PTJ: It’s actually a bit hush-hush as it’s not fully confirmed yet but…  
(15:17) Stimtrain: ????  
(15:17) Stimtrain: amigo don’t leave me hanging like this  
(15:18) Stimtrain: dude what????  
(15:19) PTJ: My sister and I applied to work in the tech side of the Apex Games recently. We got a second interview so who knows – perhaps I’ll be working on the next season!  
(15:23) PTJ: You still there, Stim? Didn’t die, did you?  
(15:24) Stimtrain: omg dude!!!!  
(15:24) Stimtrain: im???? dude!!!!  
(15:24) Stimtrain: thats crazy omg  
(15:24) Stimtrain: u betr tell me all about it if u do get hired!!!!!  
(15:25) PTJ: Of course – you’d be the first person I’d tell! 😊

12.04.29  
Private chat between: User Stimtrain, User PTJ  
(11:15) PTJ: I got the job! 😊  
(11:24) PTJ: No congratulations? Stim, you need to get up earlier… It’s almost midday for you… Stop going to bed at like 3am!

(13:02) Stimtrain: ok mum  
(13:02) Stimtrain: omg dude!!!! congrats!!!! soz was sleeping jajaja  
(13:03) PTJ: Doesn’t surprise me  
(13:03) Stimtrain: rude :(((  
(13:03) Stimtrain: but fr congrats!!!  
(13:04) PTJ: thanks 😊  
(13:06) Stimtrain: so what r u gonna do???? whats ur job????  
(13:07) PTJ: Sorry, I can’t really go into detail about it! It’s the tech side of it – how it works behind the scenes… had to sign a form to say I’d keep quiet about it.  
(13:07) Stimtrain: ur keeping a secret from ur best friend? rude

15.04.29  
Private chat between: User Stimtrain, User PTJ  
(12:59) Stimtrain: i no ur @ work but wanted 2 tell u i got booked on 4 the gauntlet  
(13:00) Stimtrain: itll b in 3 wks  
(13:00) Stimtrain: so litrly 1 day b4 the games restart jajaja  
(13:01) Stimtrain: so i know ull probs b busy but would b cool if u could wish me luck!  
(13:01) Stimtrain: if u evr get free time anymore jajaja  
(13:02) Stimtrain: like fr uve been rly busy lately rip but o well

(16:05) PTJ: Sorry! Yeah, we’ve been really busy preparing for things… sorry that I can’t tell you much about it.  
(16:05) Stimtrain: hey no worries amigo  
(16:05) Stimtrain: just boring not talking 2 u jaja  
(16:06) PTJ: And good luck on the Gauntlet! Hwaiting!  
(16:06) Stimtrain: :)))  
(16:10) PTJ: Can’t wait for the games to start up again – hopefully it will give me some time to relax! Plus, it would be nice to watch them with you again! 😊  
(16:10) Stimtrain: si!! that would b kl  
(16:11) PTJ: Sounds like a plan then 😊  
(16:11) Stimtrain: sounds like a date;)))  
(16:12) PTJ: Jeez, Stim…  
(16:12) Stimtrain: i mean ur not denying it tho;))))  
(16:12) PTJ: No!  
(16:12) Stimtrain: ugh ur no fun

19.04.29  
Private chat between: User Stimtrain, User PTJ  
(13:23) Stimtrain: m8 i just got a notif sayin weve been talking for a yr  
(13:23) Stimtrain: wheres the time gone jajaja  
(13:25) Stimtrain: well half of it was wasted w8ing 4 u to reply jajaja  
(13:26) PTJ: One year of friendship, and you are still as impatient as the day I met you! Never change, Stim…  
(13:26) Stimtrain: hey im not gonna change perfection amigo dont u worry  
(13:27) PTJ: Glad to hear  
(13:34) PTJ: How’s training for the Gauntlet going?  
(13:34) Stimtrain: omg so much fun  
(13:34) Stimtrain: ngl ive almost doubled my followers from posting vids of me training jajaja  
(13:25) Stimtrain: stim daredevil is even more famous  
(13:25) Stimtrain: not that ud no jajaja still aint checked out my vids hav u  
(13:28) PTJ: Sorry, not yet! Mila said she checked it out though and really liked it  
(13:31) Stimtrain: whos Mila????  
(13:31) Stimtrain: pt got a gf???? ew  
(13:32) PTJ: Heol! No! She’s my sister! I thought I told you her name before?  
(13:32) Stimtrain: o jaja makes more sense  
(13:32) Stimtrain: no not herd her name b4  
(13:34) PTJ: Ah, well… no, Mila is my sister hah  
(13:34) Stimtrain: hey btw wot is ur name????

(14:27) Stimtrain: i mean if u dont wanna say u dont hav 2  
(14:27) Stimtrain: no pressure amigo

(14:58) PTJ: No, sorry! I was working  
(14:58) PTJ: It’s Tae Joon 😊 What about you, what’s your name?  
(14:49) Stimtrain: look up my daredevil name n ull find out jajaja  
(14:53) PTJ: I should have guessed you’d do something like that to make me look you up…  
(14:53) PTJ: Octavio, then?  
(14:53) Stimtrain: u no it;)))) like 2 make things difficult 4 u  
(14:53) Stimtrain: wow that was quick jajaja  
(14:54) Stimtrain: yep tho octavios my name dont wear it out  
(14:55) PTJ: You should really tighten the security around your name, Stim – a lot of things come up just searching for your name… Could be dangerous  
(14:55) Stimtrain: aw u worried about me jajaja  
(14:56) PTJ: Yes! I am worried

29.04.29  
Private chat between: User Stimtrain, User PTJ  
(19:34) Stimtrain: 1 wk until the gauntlet!!!!  
(19:34) Stimtrain: 1 wk 1 day until the games!!!!  
(19:34) Stimtrain: amigo im practically bouncing off the walls rn  
(19:36) PTJ: So… no different from normal, then?  
(19:36) Stimtrain: hah hah v funny  
(19:36) Stimtrain: fr tho omg so much adrenaline rn i think im gonna die from the hype  
(19:36) Stimtrain: r u hyped????  
(19:36) Stimtrain: hav u sorted evrything 4 the game yet????  
(19:37) Stimtrain: will it be releasing on time????  
(19:37) Stimtrain: it betr or ill hunt u down n gut u  
(19:38) PTJ: No delays so far! Things are going well! But you know I can’t go into detail about it, Stim!  
(19:38) Stimtrain: ugh so boring  
(19:38) Stimtrain: wheres ur sense of adventure amigo  
(19:39) Stimtrain: live a little  
(19:43) PTJ: Hah, you don’t know the half of it, Stim! If I told you some things, you’d be shocked… But life is finally settling down, especially with this new job, so I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts!  
(19:44) Stimtrain: orly young tae, eh? were u a party animal jajaja wish id seen that;))))  
(19:47) PTJ: I wish I’d have had the time to party. Sadly, there were no parties for “young Tae”  
(19:47) Stimtrain: mysterious young tae it is then  
(19:47) Stimtrain: just as exciting if u ask me;))))  
(19:48) PTJ: … Just wow

05.05.29  
Private chat between: User Stimtrain, User PTJ  
(15:29) PTJ: Good luck for tomorrow! 😊  
(15:29) Stimtrain: thx amigo!!!!  
(15:29) Stimtrain: im fukin buzzing  
(15:29) Stimtrain: im gonna die of excitement  
(15:29) Stimtrain: i almost beat the world record in the sim yesterday n i have a plan for doing it tomorrow…  
(15:30) Stimtrain: its gonna be amazing  
(15:30) Stimtrain: wish u could watch live!!! if im allowed i might livestream it 4 my fans n u if u want????  
(15:31) PTJ: That sounds cool, I’d gladly watch!  
(15:31) Stimtrain: rip just looked n its not allowed… well wot they dont know wont hurt them lol…  
(15:33) PTJ: Be careful, with whatever you’re planning, Stim  
(15:33) Stimtrain: ill b fine mum dont worry jajaja  
(15:33) Stimtrain: wont livesteam but ill record it n upload it after  
(15:34) Stimtrain: ill send u the vid jajaja  
(15:36) PTJ: I look forward to it!  
(15:39) PTJ: I’ve got to go for now though – with the Games so soon, they’re asking Mila and I to do some more work at home… going to focus on that – don’t want to mess something up and ruin the games for everyone watching!  
(15:40) Stimtrain: work hard!!! make it perfect so i can enjoy it!!!! if it sucks im going to blame u!!!

(20:31) PTJ: Finally done but I think I’m going to go to bed early… worked on my drone a little more so hopefully I’ll be able to watch it in higher quality when it does come out. And will be cool to see your video on it!  
(20:31) Stimtrain: nice!!!! dont think ill be able to sleep tonight jajaja  
(20:32) Stimtrain: too much stim in my system jajaja whoops so hyped for tomorrow!!!! got everything prepped!!!  
(20:35) PTJ: Try to get some rest – and be careful with how much stim you take. Don’t want you to get hurt tomorrow.  
(20:35) Stimtrain: stop worrying jajaja

07.05.29  
Private chat between: User Stimtrain, User [Profile Suspended]  
(08:27) Stimtrain: hey amigo u will not believe wot happened yesterday jajaja <>  
(08:27) SYSTEM: Error. Message Could not send. Profile Suspended.  
(08:27) Stimtrain: um wtf  
(08:27) SYSTEM: Error. Message Could not send. Profile Suspended.  
(08:28) Stimtrain: Tae?????  
(08:28) SYSTEM: Error. Message Could not send. Profile Suspended.  
(08:28) Stimtrain: What the fuck is this???? Tae???? Where are you, amigo???? Dude don’t freak me out like this????  
(08:28) SYSTEM: Error. Message Could not send. Profile Suspended.  
(08:29) Stimtrain: What the fuck, man. Delete your profile the day I’m gone? Fuck you  
(08:29) SYSTEM: Error. Message Could not send. Profile Suspended. 

09.05.29  
Private chat between: User Stimtrain, User [Profile Suspended]  
(14:12) Stimtrain: well if u ever come back amigo just wanted 2 say i broke the record  
(14:12) SYSTEM: Error. Message Could not send. Profile Suspended.  
(14:12) Stimtrain: lost my legs tho jajaja  
(14:12) SYSTEM: Error. Message Could not send. Profile Suspended.  
(14:12) Stimtrain: my friend ajay is rly pissed  
(14:12) SYSTEM: Error. Message Could not send. Profile Suspended.  
(14:15) Stimtrain: i bet u would be 2  
(14:15) SYSTEM: Error. Message Could not send. Profile Suspended.  
(14:15) Stimtrain: hurry up n come back amigo i miss u  
(14:15) SYSTEM: Error. Message Could not send. Profile Suspended. 

10.05.29  
Private chat between: User Stimtrain, User [Profile Suspended]  
(13:14) Stimtrain: dude i just saw some really fucked up news  
(13:14) SYSTEM: Error. Message Could not send. Profile Suspended.  
(13:14) Stimtrain: i doubt its true but????  
(13:14) SYSTEM: Error. Message Could not send. Profile Suspended.  
(13:16) Stimtrain: some news stations here said u killed ur sister??? i mean i assume ur the dude theyre talking about  
(13:16) SYSTEM: Error. Message Could not send. Profile Suspended.  
(13:16) Stimtrain: doubt there are many tae joons with sisters called mila…  
(13:16) SYSTEM: Error. Message Could not send. Profile Suspended.  
(13:18) Stimtrain: is that why deleted ur account?  
(13:18) SYSTEM: Error. Message Could not send. Profile Suspended.  
(13:18) Stimtrain: whatevr happens i hope i get to talk 2 u again one day tae  
(13:18) SYSTEM: Error. Message Could not send. Profile Suspended.  
(13:19) Stimtrain: o stfu system no1 cares just fuck off  
(13:19) SYSTEM: Error. Message Could not send. Profile Suspended.


	2. BNR-OS Key Decrypt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bit of a disclaimer - I main Lifeline and Crypto. I feel like I understand their characters best. Please let me know when reading this if you feel like I have written any of the Legends OOC. I'd much rather be told I'm doing something wrong so I can fix it, rather than have everyone stay quiet about it but not like how I'm writing their favourite Legends lmao
> 
> for real though - the amount of quite needless research I put into this chapter lmao... too much! Literally looked up when Octane and Wattson were released and tried to base the timeline off that oop

It was March 19th, 2733 when Octavio Silva looked over at King’s Canyon in the distance from the dropship for the first time. But wait – he wasn’t Octavio anymore, no. He was Octane now. An Apex Legend. Officially. 

This was really happening.

Adrenaline coursed through his veins as he hopped up and down on the spot, making the platform he stood on beside his teammates to rattle violently. 

On his right stood a soldier, Anita ‘Bangalore’ Williams. She held onto one of the pillars to stop herself being thrown off the platform by Octane’s shaking. If this had been the first time he had seen her, the stern expression she wore almost permanently would have told him all that he needed to know about her – that she was boring; too serious and stuffy. But, as a long-term fan of the Games, he knew that she was an experienced veteran and had been in the Games for years now – ten seasons, to be exact – which would definitely benefit their team. With her at his side, he might even be able to get a win in his first match! Plus, he knew that each time she played, she played up-close and personal. Octane could get behind – or, preferably, in front – of that. 

To his left, Ajay ‘Lifeline’ Che watched her teammate and childhood friend jitter on the platform with an amused expression. She rolled her eyes at his excitement when he met her gaze for a moment. She was used to the slow travel over King’s Canyon, having played in the Apex Games for four seasons now. And she was even more used to Octane’s over-the-top enthusiasm for… pretty much anything life-threatening. She knew more than anyone that anything less than a near-death experience was too dull for the man beside her.

“Can’t you get him to calm down, Lifeline?” Bangalore asked. “FNG is going to send us flying before we even reach the edge of the map.” 

“Quit ya whinin,” Ajay said, voice full of mirth. “Besides, there ain’t no way to calm him. Ya just gotta hope he—”

Before the medic could finish her sentence, the buzzer signalling the Legends could drop went off and, as Jumpmaster, Octane immediately launched himself off the side of the platform, shouting out a battle cry as he went. His teammates were forced to follow, still connected to him. Williams let out a stream of curses as they neared the Swamps, alongside another three teams.

“Why did you relinquish Jumpmaster to him, Lifeline?” she yelled, not waiting for a reply as she splintered off to another nearby run-down shack. Not that Ajay could reply to her, too busy laughing at her friend’s actions.

The moment Octane’s prosthetics hit the wet ground of the Swamps, he immediately got out one of his stims and jabbed it into his stomach, tearing away through the water and inside one of the shacks. He wasted no time picking up every item he came across, even though half of the mods he shoved into his backpack didn’t suit the Peacekeeper he held in his hand. 

Gunshots could be heard from all around him. The rapid-fire of a R-301; slow but deafening shots from an EVA-8; the crackling of energy ammo ripping into the wooden huts around him. Grenades tore gaping holes into the ground; arc stars left black veins in trees and thermite grenades set the foliage and Legends alight.

Bangalore was yelling something to him and Ajay, but Octane hardly heard her as he fired a round at Mirage, only for the decoy to explode in bright blue light. He let out a giddy laugh, spinning on one leg as he reloaded his weapon, only to come face-to-face with the real Mirage.

“You better not come back to haunt me – I hate it when that happens,” the older man said with a slight smile as he lifted up his gun, about to pull the trigger before Bangalore appeared behind him, shooting him with her Wingman in the back of the head, forcing him down to the ground. 

As Mirage’s decoy overplayed him falling to the ground, the soldier looked down at Octane with a scowl. “If you make contact, you’d better finish the job. I understand this is your first game, kid, but I’m no babysitter. Listen to your teammates when you’re on the ground. I won’t always be there to save you.” With that, she turned towards the reappearing Mirage and finished him, as if to prove her point, and pointed to one of the nearby buildings. “Lifeline is over there. Get D.O.C to patch you up. And, for god’s sake, pay attention.”

\------

Throughout the entire match, Octavio didn’t get bored once. Even he was surprised by this revelation. It was becoming more and more likely that sprinting around such a huge map, narrowly avoiding bullets and grenades, would be the cure for his tedious life. 

Despite the fact he hadn’t won his first match (Bangalore had not been happy that they had come 4th and had blamed the loss on Octane for charging ahead of their team into a fully-healed squad, all sporting level-3 body shields… which was fair… but god it had been an intense rush for the adrenaline junkie), Octavio was thrilled with how it had gone overall. He had even managed to be the Kill Leader for a moment! It definitely beat that dull desk job his father had wanted him to focus on. Even the feeling of being downed, as painful as it was, had made his heart race with excitement. 

He was thankful he had Ajay to talk to about the Game. The moment they were patched up in the medbay after the match, he had sprinted to her side. She had smiled widely at him as he gestured wildly, jumping up and down on the spot in an attempt to convey how the match had gone, as if she hadn’t been part of it herself. By the time his one-sided conversation started to wind down, she put a hand on his shoulder and gave it a light squeeze.

“Good job today, Tav,” she told him as she removed her hand. “But, seriously, remember this is a team game. I’ll let ya off this time because it was ya first match and it was fun to watch ya get shot a lot, but ya gotta remember there are two other people who are gonna get effected by ya actions. And I doubt I’ll be on ya squad next round. So, I won’t be there to help ya while ya bleedin. In fact, I might even be why ya bleedin.” 

Octavio rolled his eyes as she lectured him, shoulders slumping and foot tapping against the floor as he waited for her to finish. She noticed this quickly and her expression instantly shifted from gentle concern to annoyance, clearly irritated by his attitude. “This game is dangerous, Tavi. These people are killers – some of ‘em might not be as forgivin as me and Anita when ya cost them a game. We’re protected by the Game’s tech when we play down on the map, but we ain’t outside of it. Don’t be an idiot and get yaself killed.” Her expression softened for a moment and she crossed her arms. “It’d suck if I helped my friend get in here and he got himself actually killed.”

“I know, Chica, I know,” he said dismissively. “But you saw how good I was out there – I can fight just as good as the rest of ‘em. I’ll be fine.” Before she could reply, Octavio raced towards the medbay’s exit. Everyone else had filtered out long ago, so he had no trouble running down the halls of the Legends’ shared housing, putting as much space between himself and another lecture as he could. 

The shared housing was very plain, outside of each Legends’ personal room. The walls were lifeless – the bottom half black and the top half white, separated by a thin red line. There were no decorations, no windows or even any dirt. It was strangely pristine for housing filled with dozens of people competing daily in a bloodspot. 

The mess hall was even worse. It was empty at the moment, making it look even more uninteresting. It was completely white with dull, wooden tables and plain black chairs that stood in three neat rows, each row able to seat up to twenty people at once. At the end of the hall, there were three separate serving stations each which, during meal times, would sport food cooked by unseen chefs from different planets to make sure all the Legends had a taste of home during their stay at the shared housing each season. With no-one inside and no food on display at the stations yet, Octavio continued towards his room.

Thankfully for him, Octavio had been asked to design his room’s appearance before he joined, and he had gone wild with it. Not only was it primarily painted in his favourite colour, green, with small motorbike graphics scattered across the walls, but they had also allowed him to bring in photos and posters to stick up on the wall, as well as all six of his consoles and multiple simulation platforms, each plugged into their own TV. He had a massive wardrobe, full to the brim with strange outfits he had requested be made for him – half of them he would never wear; he just wanted to see if they would actually make some of the strange things he asked for… they did. Even the strangest design he had come up with, which he had dubbed “Arachnoid Rush”, was hung up, made exactly how he had asked. Their attention to detail was honestly shocking. 

They had given him a double-bed, with a small fridge-freezer beside it. Any snacks he requested, he was told, would be stocked there after the next Game he played or during the night. He wondered how they would react if he asked for something that didn’t exist – considering what they had done for his costume designs, part of him wondered if they would create snacks for him as requested, as well. 

He even had his own ensuite, complete with a bath-shower combo. He was thankfully for this – bathing was one of the only things he took his time with. Plus, he still struggled to let others see his body, especially those he hadn’t known for long. So, having a bathroom to himself was preferred. 

In all honesty, the room here was better than his room at his own home, even if a lot smaller. Here, unlike at his family home, Octavio didn’t have maids popping in every day to bother him about clothes that needed washing or beds that needed to be made and his father wasn’t around to judge his decorating style.

However, back inside his own room, he suddenly realised he had a lot of downtime, as there was only one match per day. While these matches lasted around 2 hours – sometimes longer – that still meant there was another 22 hours of the day that he would have to keep himself entertained. 

He sat on the edge of his bed, legs bouncing rapidly, as he mulled over what he could do now. He didn’t want to go see Ajay – she’d just lecture him again, after all – and the other Legends had likely locked themselves up in their own rooms, so he doubted he could find the chance to talk to them just yet. He opened up his phone to check his notifications, seeing thousands of messages from his fans raving over his match. He smiled wildly, pulled the mask off his face and put it to the side, alongside his goggles. He spent a while replying to messages and updated his status several times as he did so before boredom started to settle back into him. 

It was fun talking to his fans, sure, but… they didn’t really know him. They hadn’t seen his face; they didn’t know who he was behind the mask. Not like PTJ, Tae Joon, had. That was the person he really wanted to talk to about his first ever Apex Games match. That was the person he wanted to talk to… about life.

How would he react have reacted to seeing Octavio race around the map, taking out opponents left and right? He knew Tae Joon had worked on the technical side of things – something about the drones – so perhaps he worked on getting the highlights for the show. Would he have watched him from behind a drone, following him and getting the best shots? Would he have kept an eye on Octane, out of concern or curiosity? Would he have been proud that he had entered the games, or would he have rolled his eyes that the daredevil had decided to compete in a blood sport, simply to cure his boredom? 

After four years, would Tae Joon even remember him?

As that thought forced itself into his mind, Octavio got to his feet and began to pace. The metal joints creaked as he walked back and forth and, despite how he no longer had them, his legs ached, desperate for him to run about somewhere – do something. 

So, he left his room, to cause some trouble somewhere in the shared housing. He needed to do something to keep the thoughts at bay.

\-----

It didn’t take Octavio long to get used to the Games. Thankfully, the adrenaline rush that came with each game hadn’t disappeared. In fact, as the time passed by incredibly fast, his excitement for his next match only ever increased. It hardly felt like a week had passed by the time his first season drew to a close at the start of June and the Legends were all permitted to leave the shared housing if they wanted to. Which he didn’t, much to his father’s annoyance. 

Thankfully, he wasn’t the only Legend who chose to stay at the shared housing during the break. If he had been alone, he might have had to leave, just to stop himself going crazy from boredom. Williams had decided to stay, too, as had Elliott ‘Mirage’ Witts and the robot Legend, Pathfinder. A strange combination, really. Part of him wished Ajay had remained in the shared housing, but she had plans and promises she had to keep.

She had gone back home, apparently to deliver supplies to people in the Frontier Corps. She told him that she did this during every break between the seasons she played in; spent all of her earnings from the Games to supply people in need from the war, despite how long ago it had ended. Octavio thought it was a bit strange but considering her family’s involvement in the war all those years ago, he supposed it made sense that she felt guilty and wanted to make up for it – she was good like that. 

The first few days during the break were awkward. Elliott was clearly uncomfortable with Pathfinder’s presence but didn’t say anything about it to him so the MRVN unit stuck to his “best friend” like glue and Williams spent most of her time locked up in her room, avoiding contact with all of them unless it was mealtime. So, growing sick of the stifling atmosphere after a week, Octavio decided to try to put an end to it by getting setting up a group games night. 

Pathfinder was, unsurprisingly, easy to get on board – he just had to mention for the robot to come to his room that evening and he had enthusiastically agreed. 

Elliott was fairly easy to convince, too. Clearly, he was just excited to talk to someone other than Pathfinder, who had hardly left his side the entire week. He was slightly reluctant to join when he found out the robot would be there, too, but was eventually swayed when Octavio promised to try to keep the MRVN entertained for a few days after, to give him some peace and quiet, away from the robot.

Williams was a lot harder to get a hold of at all, much less convince to join them. He ran into her during lunch and, as soon as she saw him bouncing towards her, she had stood up from her table, food half-eaten on her tray, and had started to leave. However, even if she wanted to run, there was no way for her to outrun the Octrain. He caught up to her within a few seconds and, smiling behind his mask, stared up at the taller woman until she let out a tired sigh and stopped, turning to face him finally.

“What is it, Octane?” she asked. She seemed to call all of the Legends by their stage names, even outside of the Games. While most of them relaxed once they left the battlefield, Williams seemed constantly on edge, ready to fight at any given moment. So, truth be told, Octavio had to be careful when speaking to her alone… just in case she decided she had had enough and knocked him out cold.

“Anita, chica,” he began, but was quickly cut off when she sternly told him: 

“Don’t call me chica. Don’t call me Anita. It’s Williams, if you must use my real name.”

“But Ajay gets to call you Anita,” Octavio pointed out with a smirk. “Is she special?”

“Get to the point, Octane,” she said in a level voice, clearly not rising to his teasing, despite the blush that dusted her cheeks. He sighed slightly, but decided to carry on, before she got sick of him and left.

“No need to be so serious, amigo. I was hosting a get together in my room tonight, after dinner, to play games or watch some shows or something. Just something fun before we all die of boredom before the next season starts. Was hoping you’d join us. Elliott and Pathfinder have already agreed.”

“You’re not selling this very well,” she told him curtly. “I have no interest in playing games.”

“I haven’t even told you what we’d be playing yet. It’s a first-person shooter. You could count it as training for the Apex Games while we’ve got all this time off.” He knew convincing her would be hard, so he decided to try to appeal to her more serious-side – perhaps that could work?

“I have a firing-range simulator in my room. If I need to train, I’ll do it there,” she fired back, clearly not budging on her stance.

“Ah, but you’re fighting against bots. You can only improve so much with those. If we played together, you’d be able to learn how to fight against me. I know you struggle to keep up with me. You miss most of your shots against me because I’m too fast for you.”

That comment seemed to spark something inside her. She stood up taller, brows furrowing angrily, eyes suddenly burning as she stared down at him. “You questioning my skills, rookie?”

“Si, amigo,” he replied evenly, feeling his smile widen behind his mask – that had definitely worked.

“You’re on, kid. Name a time and I’ll be there. I’ll wipe the floor with you.”

“Brilliant – meet at my room after dinner, then.”

They met outside Octavio’s room a few hours later. Pathfinder was already stood outside his door, staring at the wall opposite. Octavio had to wonder whether the MRVN unit had immediately gone to wait outside his room after he agreed to the plans – he probably had… When he noticed their approach, he waved one of his hands and called out “Hi friends!” in his loud, overly-cheerful voice. 

Octavio let the pair in and started turning on all of his consoles and simulation platforms for each of them to connect to as the pair looked around his room. Elliott arrived a few minutes after, stuttering and concerned he had been forgotten about. After a quick, reassuring comment from Octavio, his shoulders relaxed and he joined them in the daredevil’s room.

Williams was definitely better in the simulation than Octavio had expected her to be. She had lightning-fast reactions, was incredibly sensitive to any sound around her and shot with just as much accuracy as she did in the Games. It was incredibly impressive to watch her slaughter Pathfinder and Elliott’s avatars over and over again. 

Elliott himself seemed to struggle coming to grips with the simulation, often punching one of the walls in Octavio’s room whenever he tried to pick something up in the sim. He was definitely the easiest target, and thus the most boring, so Octavio tended to avoid him.

Pathfinder proved an impressive opponent. But it was hardly a surprise that fighting against AI inside a computer game was a challenge. The only issue with him was that he tended to forget he couldn’t zipline away within the simulation, so would stand still for a few moments at a time before he realised, leaving him wide open to attacks.

Time raced by as the four of them played together, playing multiple different game modes and even moving on to different games after Elliott died one too many times and began to complain. It surprised all of them that Williams stayed even after they changed games to something other than the shooter. But they didn’t mention it, in case she decided to leave. 

Instead, they played some of the car racing games that he had brought with him until the early hours of the morning. It was only when the 4am alarm Williams had set on her phone that they even noticed how much time had passed.

“No wonder I’ve not been playing very well recently – I’m tired,” came Elliott’s excuse as they removed the simulation equipment. “I don’t normally crash that often when I’m playing at an appro-ap-apre… at a normal time of day!”

“I can’t believe I stayed up so late,” Williams muttered, staring blankly around Octavio’s room. “This has completely ruined my routine. It’s going to take ages for me to get back into it…”

“That was exciting, friends!” Pathfinder exclaimed, still plugged into the simulation. “I can’t wait to do it again!”

“Again?” Williams huffed. “No way am I going to do this again, not after staying up this late. I need to go have a quick nap and try to get back on schedule.”

Despite her comments, during the break, the four of them ended up playing games together at least once a week. They just decided to set an alarm at 10pm to ensure that they wouldn’t ruin anyone’s sleeping pattern again next time…

\----

During the break between seasons, another Legend was announced – Natalie Paquette, who’s name in the games would be Wattson. Surprisingly, Octavio already knew this name, as did most die-hard fans of the Games. She had practically grown up in it, after all, just not as a Legend, but rather as an engineer. In fact, it was due to her that the ring in the Games even existed. It was shocking that it had taken her so long to join the Games, really.

A week before the new season, starting on July 2nd, the four Legends who remained at the shared housing had to leave to allow the construction of this new Legend’s room. Octavio had hated this but was thankfully he only had to put up with his father, the maids, and his father’s newest wife for a week. Besides, he spent most of that week at the dirt track, performing near-impossible tricks on his bike or even racing against them on foot. It got his blood pumping, being chased by a revving vehicle. He could easily have been run over. But the thrill didn’t compare to the excitement he got during the Games. He could hardly wait to be back in the shared housing, eager to get started on the newest season.

On July 1st, all the Legends were called back to the shared housing and Octavio left immediately, not even bothering to pack anything other than a change of clothes, his stims and jump pads. He expected to be the first Legend back at the shared housing, but surprisingly, there were three already there – Williams, Wraith and the new Legend. 

She was shorter than Octavio, which was saying something, with a short-blonde bob and bright, almost electric-blue eyes. There was a small smile on her lips and a large, spiking scar which covered a large portion of her face, partly hidden by the hoodie she wore. She wore cropped jeans and sneakers which revealed the metal of her ankles between the gap as she, too, had prosthetic legs. 

Upon seeing Octavio enter the shared housing, Natalie let out a small, happy gasp and jumped up and down on the spot, clapping her hands together excitedly. It was enough to make even him pause in the entrance for a moment, before waving in her direction. Seeing him wave, she bounced down the hall towards him and grabbed his hand, shaking it enthusiastically. 

“Bonjour, mon ami!” she said. “It’s so nice to meet you! Ms Williams was telling me so much about you! I’m ec-static to work with you and the rest of the Legends!”

Octavio raised an eyebrow at her emphasis on the word ‘ecstatic’, but he didn’t question it, instead smiling under his mask and returning her energetic greeting with a quick handshake.

“Hola, amigo!” he replied. “Nice to finally meet the famous Natalie Paquette. Good work on the ring, chica.”

“Merci!” she beamed. “I worked on it with my papa, rest his soul. I hope I can do him proud down in the arena.”

“I’m not going to have to deal with two of your now, am I?” Williams’ asked sarcastically, leaning against the wall with a slightly concerned expression. “I just hope I don’t get teamed up with you both at the same time, or I might lose my mind.”

“At least she’s cuter than him,” Wraith said in her monotone voice, causing the young blonde to blush slightly.

“Ah, you’d love it, really, Anita!” Octavio beamed at her.

“Don’t call me that.”

\----

“I must have done something to upset god for my first match of the season to be with both of you,” Bangalore muttered as she stood in the middle of the platform as it lowered over King’s Canyon. Beside her stood both Octane and Wattson, who looked at each other with amused expressions. 

Despite how much of his face was hidden, Wattson almost seemed to know exactly what Octane was thinking and after their first meeting, the two got on like a house on fire. Together on the lowered platform, they looked at each other behind their Jumpmaster, nodding to each other and immediately dropping solo, leaving Bangalore behind on the platform to yell in their ears: “Goddammit – I’m sick of being paired with you FNGs!” before she, too, launched herself off the dropship to the Canyon below. 

Landing with a thud in Thunderdome, the pair charged off in different directions. Wattson immediately began to place electric fences at the end of ziplines, zapping most of the people who followed after her, while Octane stimmed himself and tore through the sand towards the nearby loot bins, reaching them long before anyone else and turning to shoot those chasing after him. Bangalore landed a few moments later, finding herself surrounded by another two squads that had managed to find a few pistols and fired one of her smoke grenades at them, managing to knock down one of the four people around her instantly and rushing forwards to punch and kick the rest of them. By the time the dust (and smoke) settled, the three of them stood in the Thunderdome alone, surrounded by loot boxes, desperately trying to catch their breathes.

“Why do you always drop instantly whenever I’m on your team, Octane?” the soldier asked, patching herself up with a med kit that she had found on one of the Legends she had taken down. “Do you just like being a complete pain in my ass?”

“Ah, admit it, compadre – you enjoy the rush as much as I do!” he replied as he recharged his level-2 body shield. “Plus, it’s fun to annoy you.”

“We took first blood!” Wattson’s voice cut in over their comms before Bangalore could reply. “We work well together! This is so much more fun than I thought it would be!” As if hearing the excitement in the newest Legend’s voice, Bangalore let out a defeated sigh and shook her head.

“Come on, let’s go over there,” she said instead, pinging towards Skull Town. “If you rookies want to play up-close and personal, we might as well go to one of the busiest parts of the map and get some good loot from it.”

The trio raced from hot-zone to hot-zone, picking off teams left and right, Octane rushing ahead of them each time and almost always getting downed the moment he realised there was more than two full squads there. Bangalore picked him up each time, frowning down at him she did so, and chucked syringes next to him to use while she and Wattson took out the rest of the squads. They soon made their way to the Cascades, hearing the loud airstrike raining down close by, signalling that Gibraltar and his team must be close by.

As always, Octane rushed in first, hand twitching over the stim he was tempted to use, but decided against it when Bangalore called out: “Don’t go in alone again, Octane, or I won’t pick you up this time.” So, instead, he raced ahead at… a slower pace than he wanted, though still much further along than either of the girls on his team. When he entered the new zone, he saw Gibraltar standing over Caustic, throwing his shield down on the older man’s head, finishing the downed Legend instantly. Smirking playfully, Octane raced towards the finished Legends’ loot box, snatching the Wingman out from under Gibraltar’s nose.

“Muchas gracias, amigo,” he called to the hulking man as he skidded past, sending pebbles flying down the dirt-road before standing back up and continuing his mad-dash across the Canyon. 

“Come back here, brother,” Gibraltar yelled after him, missing each of the shots he took with the Mastiff, instead hitting the rocks Octane jumped over, turning them to rubble. “I dare ya.”

“I would, but you’re already dead,” he called back, turning to see Bangalore had finally caught up with him, Hemlock in hand.

“Night-night,” she said, clearly amused by his comment as she eliminated the enemy, though she tried to hide it from Octane in an attempt to maintain her cool façade. She raced towards her speeding teammate, still trying to catch up with him, leaving the new loot-box untouched. “Mirage is on your six, Octane. Keep going – lead him into Wattson’s fences!”

“Si, amigo!” Octane called back, racing underneath the large Leviathan bones that were scattered across the map. 

Moments later, the crackling of energy ammo could he heard, zipping past Octane as Mirage taunted him: “You know, for a fast guy, you’re pretty slow!”

“For a dumb guy, you’re perfect,” the adrenaline junkie returned the taunt before realising there was no more road in front of him and he would have to jump down off the ledge he stood on. Leaping down, Octane had to lunge to the side to avoid most of the L-Star’s bullets, though one still burned into his arm, making him wish he had instead taken the armour in Caustic’s loot box, not the Wingman.

“I am perfect!” Mirage said in an almost desperate tone, as if trying to convince himself of it as he skidded to a halt at the edge of the ledge, burning his own hand on the overheating weapon and letting out a quiet curse.

Watching from below, Octane smiled under his mask and finally jabbed himself in the stomach with his stim, feeling more adrenaline rush through his veins. His legs ached to run, his eyes blown wide and he kicked off against the dirt at his feet, dashing across the water, going so fast that he practically raced over the water’s surface. He threw down his jump pad as he neared the water’s edge, leaping atop of it with ease, soaring through the sky, towards Mirage who was still trying to reload his weapon. 

“Watch out!” Wattson called over the comms, throwing down the interceptor she had ready as Bloodhound threw an arc star towards the man in the air. They let out a low curse as the electricity sparking from the pylon zapped the grenade out of the air, causing it to explode far earlier than they would have liked, leaving Octane unharmed as he landed on top of Mirage, kicking him in the face multiple times as he landed, knocking him down. Octane couldn’t help himself as he let out a loud, joyful cry as he watched the decoy collapse beside him, flashing a peace sign at the downed man as if to mock him, even if he didn’t know exactly where he had slinked off to, and grinned wildly under his mask. 

Wattson let her team know a moment later that she had taken out Bloodhound by sniping them, though her voice had started to sound almost distant, as if distracted by something. Moments later, a loud flash went off by the repulsor tower in the middle of the map, and multiple pulses of energy vibrated out from it. The group covered their ears in an attempt to quiet the sound of the explosion, wincing at the power behind it.

“That can’t be good,” the engineer said in a low voice, removing her hands and staring towards the tower. As the repulsor split in the middle and began to topple over, she shook her head and began to walk backwards, still unable to look away from the disaster unfolding in front of them as it began to fall towards them. “Definitely not good.”

“Hustle up, ladies,” Bangalore said in a strong voice, pulling Wattson out of her stupor. “Let’s move!” She turned, pointing out where to go on the map and the two women raced away while Octane remained in the same spot, bouncing up and down as he watched the tower get closer and closer.

“Whoa, awesome!” he cried out as the destroyed repulsor landed on one of the nearby ledges, splitting it into more pieces and sending thunderous vibrations through the ground, causing him to jump even higher into the air from the force of the crash. Finally, watching the end of the tower come towards him, Octane turned around and raced after his teammates, declaring in a loud voice: “This is the least bored I’ve been all day!” However, he didn’t get far as the rubble from the building smashed into the back of him, sending him flying across the map, knocked down once more in the dirt.

The world went black again for a second and pain seared through his body, limbs on fire. He couldn’t move, stunned by the impact, and stared up at the sky, noticing one of his goggles had been broken from the impact of the crash and the electric connection to his prosthetics had been cut off.

“Not good,” he muttered, trying to move once more but being unable to. 

“All Legends, please evacuate the arena immediately,” came the robotic orders from the announcer. He started to wonder if he would be left there, unable to move due to his malfunctioning legs. How much longer would it take for the system to restart and for it to let him move again? Adrenaline surged through his veins but, stuck on the ground, unable to move, instead of the usual excitement, all he felt was dread course through his veins alongside the surge of energy. He was about to call out for help when Wattson made her way through the flaming rubble towards him, adjusting his legs and sending electric shocks through his system to jumpstart the connection, allowing him to move once more.

With her help, he stood up once more, letting out a breathless “thanks!” as Bangalore returned to their side, staring up at the sky once more.

“What is that?” she asked, clearly concerned. Octane turned to look immediately, almost expecting another power surge to go through the map and destroy something else – though he didn’t know what – or for some more rubble to fall around them. However, what he saw instead was a creature flying towards the map. Then another and another. Dozens of flyers flew into the map, screeching and searching the Canyon grounds for something to eat. All the time, the Leviathans which had stood just outside of the map began to slowly venture into the arena, making the ground tremble with every step they took.

“All Legends, please evacuate the arena immediately,” called the announcer once more. Slowly, they turned away from the creatures flooding into the map and raced towards the incoming dropship that had been sent in to collect them. Octane threw another jump pad down as they raced towards safety, hoping to aid his team and any other Legends behind them get towards the exit quickly.

As the group passed by previously downed or finished Legends that had been woken up by the emergency restart system, they explained the situation and helped them to their feet. Octane even passed each person they raced by a stim to help them sprint towards the dropship, though making sure to warn them that his stims had a higher dose than the ones they would be used to. 

It took a couple of minutes but eventually all sixty Legends stood on the dropship, watching the chaos unfold in the Canyon. The Leviathans had completely destroyed parts of the maps and flyers had picked up items, carrying them away to high perches and trying to eat them – though how they intended to eat a gun, Octane wasn’t sure. 

“What happened?” multiple Legends in the ship asked at once, all shrugging their shoulders or shaking their heads in reply. It seemed no-one understood what had just happened, apart from Wattson, who stared down at the arena with tears in her eyes.

“A massive EMP – it destroyed the repulsor which kept the wildlife out of the arena,” she said in a weak voice, unable to pull her eyes away from the map. “They’ll completely destroy it. All the hard work that my papa and I put into it… it’s going to be destroyed. How can they fix the tower when the Leviathans are in the way? What-”

Gibraltar came up behind the young woman at that moment, resting a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. “Don’t worry, brother, they’ll sort something out and get everything sorted. The stuff you and your pa worked on hasn’t been ruined. It’ll still work. They’ll fix it, just wait and see.”

As tears began to race down the young girl’s cheeks, he pulled her into a tight embrace, which she returned immediately, her quiet tears turning into loud sobs the longer she held onto him. The rest of the Legends watched the pair with concerned expressions before Wraith stepped forward, placing a hand on Wattson’s back. After that, everyone began to join in on the hug, though careful not to crush the poor girl, and remained that way until they made it back to the shared housing.

\----

Just as Makoa Gibraltar had predicted, the Apex Games weren’t put on hold for long. In fact, they only needed a one-week hiatus before the Games were officially started up again.

Within that time, most of the Legends had grown a lot closer to each other, forming tight-knit groups. What was most surprising was that even the crueller individuals, such as Caustic, had become more open and friendly towards the rest, especially towards Natalie. 

During the hiatus, the young engineer had grown close Wraith and Makoa, especially, after their help in calming her down after the repulsor tower had originally fallen. She had formed a close bond with Octavio, too, who had often helped to take her mind off things when she needed them. However, in the moments that she needed to express her feelings openly, without judgement, Makoa and Wraith had both been there for her. 

With the newfound closeness of all of the Legends after such a traumatic ordeal, it didn’t take long for Wraith and Natalie to become romantically involved with each other, often found sitting together in the shared living room or eating together in the mess hall during each meal. It had surprised many of the Legends that Wraith had allowed herself to get close to someone else. After four years of playing in the Games, Natalie was her first friend, and definitely the first romantic relationship she had been in since she joined the Games, if not ever – no-one knew much about the mysterious woman’s past, after all, so who could be sure? 

Still, it was nice to see the two together each evening. Wraith seemed to smile more often – and, honestly, it was such a rarity that she smiled beforehand that Octavio had wondered if she even could smile – and Natalie managed to regain her optimistic outlook on everything after the first few days, especially when news that the Games would continue shortly was announced. 

All of the Legends were informed that there had been some changes to the map, which was to be expected – having two massive Leviathans standing in the middle of the Canyon would do that, after all. They were told their banners had been updated to ensure their safety from the creatures in the maps but were warned they could still get downed by them if they were stupid enough to get close to them. They just couldn’t die for real, protected by the strange tech that allowed them to get shot and killed over and over again and still come back alive. And finally, the date for the next Game was announced – July 9th.

Even when that day finally arrived, the atmosphere was different from what it had been before. During previous flights towards the Canyon, most of the Legends would stay in their designated area of the ship, playing games, chatting or looking at something on their phones. However, this time everyone stood staring out of the dropship’s windows, buzzing with energy. They were almost as pumped up as Octane was – though not quite, of course! 

Most of the people were concerned about the changes, Wattson especially, while the adrenaline junkie watched with glee, excited to see what new dangers there would be in the arena with the additional creatures roaming around. Would the Leviathan walk around the area once they landed, made to move by the sound of gunfire? If they did move, could he get crushed by it? That would be intense. What about the flyers? Sure, they had protection against them, but would the flyers attack if they got too close to them? Would people get carried away?

When the map finally came into view and the teams were announced, everyone immediately raced towards their designated platforms, eager to get a good look at the carnage and to drop down as soon as they could. Octane was put into a squad with Wattson and Wraith, with Wraith acting as the Jumpmaster. 

“Please, amigo, let me be the Jumpmaster!” the junkie pleaded, getting as close to her as the platform would allow. “I want to get a good look at the map as soon as we drop, please!”

“No,” she replied curtly, staring ahead, holding onto the bar as their platform began to lower. “I’ve heard enough from Che and Williams what you do whenever you’re made Jumpmaster. I want to win this first game back – regardless of the changes made to the arena. For myself and to prove to Nat that everything is back to normal.”

“Ugh, you’re so boring,” he moaned, rattling the bar in front of him. “Make this into a date, why don’t you? I’m starting to feel like a third-wheel over here.”

“I wouldn’t mind if you went off by yourself, but don’t expect me to break my neck trying to save you when you get downed,” Wraith told him coolly.

With that, the trio looked towards the map properly for the first time. Something instantly caught Octane’s eye – something strange stood up from the arena, between the Wetlands and the Hydro Dam. A blue, glowing… portal? Or, at least, it looked similar to the portals Wraith created down in the arena. Had the tech she used finally been released to the public?

Octane was about to ask her, turning to look at her, before he noticed the already-pale woman had gone white as a sheet. So, clearly not something she was aware of, then. Wattson noticed, too, leaning towards her girlfriend with a concerned expression.

“Are you okay?” she asked in a soft voice. Wraith didn’t reply, instead just pinged the area, as if her team hadn’t already noticed the massive blue rift sticking up into the sky. 

“We’re going there,” she told her teammates confidently, despite the expression she wore. “And we’re not letting anyone else in there.”

Before either of her team could reply, Wraith launched herself and her teammates off the dropship, directing herself towards the blue, swirling rift. The noises it made were otherworldly, which would likely frighten most individuals but it sent a shiver of anticipation down Octane’s spine – fear of the unknown for him was just as intense and exciting as getting shot at. He had been through Wraith’s portals before, and each time it had given him an indescribable rush – feeling his body be forcefully pulled from one area to the next, seeing shadows race alongside him and hearing strange whispers… the bizarreness of it all was exhilarating. What would it be like on a larger scale, through this portal? He couldn’t wait to find out.

Wattson looked behind them as they neared the portal and, in a worried tone, said: “Wraith, there are several other squads coming – perhaps we should land somewhere else?”

“I know my way around this place. They don’t,” came Wraith’s steely reply. She stayed on course towards the rift, refusing to budge even as they heard Caustic’s laughter behind them.

“What do y-” Wattson began before the three of them touched the edges of the portal. As soon as they made contact with it, the trio were sucked down through the rift. The whispers were louder compared to Wraith’s portals, almost aggressive, as they whisked through the strange blue void, pulled right and left, up and down by an incredibly strong force. Being spat out the other end of the portal, it took a moment for Wattson and Octane to regain their senses, stomachs churning from the force, confused as to which way was up and which was down. Wraith, on the other hand, marched forwards, grabbing the guns and ammo that littered the floor of the room they had landed in. She spun around, lifting a gun and pointing it towards where they had just come from just as Caustic and his teammates fell through the portal.

Caustic’s team suffered similar issues just as Octane and Wattson began to recover. The two raced forwards as the older man clutched his head with one hand and threw down a gas trap with the other. However, Wraith shot the canister, causing it to collapse and fired at the man, knocking him and his team down easily before pushing them back out through the portal. 

By the time Octane had found a weapon and returned to Wraith’s side, two more squads had spilled in through the rift. Seeing his teammate’s pale but determined face, Octane lifted his R-301 up, helping her to shoot them down while Wattson set up a fence just outside the portal itself to stun anyone else who came through, having been unable to find herself a gun with enough ammo to be any help in that regard. 

“Set up fences behind us. Make sure no-one comes through the doors at the other end. If anyone comes, Octane, you help Wattson keep them out,” Wraith ordered her teammates. The engineer obliged, rushing further into the room they found themselves in while Octane followed after her, just in case someone was already there and she couldn’t let them know in time. But no-one came. 

After two minutes of standing still at either end of the room, guns at the ready, Wraith eventually let out a sigh and put her gun down at her side. Seeing her lower her weapon, Wattson made her way towards the other woman, gently touching her shoulder and asking what was going on.

Octane, on the other hand, watched for a moment before quietly opening the door, only to see another hallway, littered with more guns and ammo (that would have been useful to know a moment ago), and even some body shields. He was going to ping the equipment for his allies but decided against it when he noticed the two whispering to each other in hushed tones, barely audible over comms. He decided to mute the two of them, to allow them some privacy, as he explored the strange facility further. 

There was much more to the area than he had first assumed – including two large doors which lead outside. Thankfully, no-one was loitering around that area so Octane slunk back inside to poke around a bit more. Smaller doors lead to dusty rooms full of broken equipment and shattered computers. 

How long had this been under the Games arena? The whole four years the Games had taken place here? What was this place, and what was it for? With all of the computers he could see destroyed, he couldn’t open one up to investigate. Waterlogged paper littered the floor, but whatever it had written on it was in some type of code. Trying to read and make sense of it bored him, so Octane decided to drop it and return back to his teammates.

That is, until he saw a door hidden in darkness. Intrigued, he tried to open it. It didn’t budge, locked up tightly. But that wasn’t going to stop him now his interest was piqued. Instead, he lifted up one of his legs, slamming it against the door. The glass splintered and the door frame creaked, but still the door remained in place, keeping him locked out. Letting out a frustrated huff, he tried again. This time, the door was thrown back into the nearly pitch-black room, crashing loudly against the floor as the glass shattered. There was no way Wraith and Wattson hadn’t heard that. Wraith would probably be furious that he had wondered off alone in this facility that she seemed so scared of – heck, she might even strangle him or throw him into the strange void permanently – but after seeing a light glowing in the room, Octane decided he would deal with them later. 

The light was coming from a computer monitor. It shone brightly against the dark and he had to look away from for a moment as the light burned his eyes. When he turned his face to the side, he saw another monitor inside a nearby room, blocked behind thick glass. Below the monitor, there were multiple keyboards and computers, all intact. The monitor itself was mostly black, almost completely hidden inside the darkness. 

However, across the screen, written in purple text, was the phrase “BNR-OS KEY DECRYPT…” Underneath that, in white text, was “PROGRESS: [ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ] 1%”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh my good god this took so long to write up oop plz enjoy thank - open to hear any critisism!!
> 
> If you need anything Octane or Wattson say in their own language to be translated or something, let me know, though I've mostly used things they say in their own voice lines in the game, so hopefully that makes it easier (and also hopefully means I've used the words correctly oop)!


	3. Project Wraith

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops the idea of time as a while has completely disappeared due to the quarantine. So sorry this took so long to update!! I'll try to be quicker next time, though can't promise anything for sure! Either way, please enjoy and let me know if you have any critiques! :)
> 
> If anyone can speak Spanish/French and notices my translations are wrong, please let me know and I'll correct them. English is my one and only language. I looked everything up online which is never perfect lol

Thoughts raced through Octane’s head a million miles a minute as he continued to stare at the screen behind the glass. What did… any of that mean, being the most prominent one. What was the progress for? Did the Games organisers know that this was going on, and if so, what were they doing? Were they implementing some new, cool feature to the Games themselves? It would definitely be cool if new features were added! Plus, that could possibly explain this strange… facility. But then, why did Wraith react like that, as if she knew something about this place when no-one else did? And if she knew about it, why hadn’t it been announced to the other Legends, even if they wanted to keep it a secret from the public?

He was about to unmute his teammates’ comms when suddenly Wraith’s voice cut through just behind him. Clearly, they had gone looking for him…

“What the fuck are you doing, Octavio?” she asked, storming towards him with a fire in her eyes he had never seen before. She had always been hard to really read – she mostly looked tired or mildly annoyed whenever he spoke to her, but she was clearly furious now. It practically oozed out of her. Her pale-blue eyes were blown wide, nostrils flaring, hands balled into tight fists. She looked kind of terrifying. Part of Octane sort of wished he could disappear into the void to get away from her while another part of him wanted to start running away immediately, to see how long he could last before she caught up with him and… probably shot him.

Wattson stood behind her, looking into the dimly lit room with a concerned expression on her face. She pulled her arms in close to her side as sparks nervously flew off from her outfit, causing the stray hairs outside of her hood to stick up from the static. But she clearly wasn’t going to intervene, at least not yet.

“Yo, calm down, compadre!” Octane said desperately, putting both his hands out in front of him in an attempt to slow her stride, or at least keep some distance between her and himself when he realised he couldn’t run away from her – he would need to get closer to her, and as small as the two of them were, he wouldn’t be able to squeeze past both of his teammates to get out of the room to make an escape without getting grabbed. He hadn’t ever heard of a teammate actually killing or knocking down another during a match, but he was beginning to wonder if it was possible from her expression. She was smart – perhaps she knew a way to make him vulnerable to her bullets… well, if she did, it would certainly be exciting, albeit scary. “I just wanted to give you two some space!”

“By wondering off by yourself in an unknown, creepy lab? That was your genius plan? Couldn’t you just have waited?” As she said that, she let out an irritated laugh and shook her head. As she stepped further into the room, the broken glass from the door splintered loudly under her thick boots. “No, of course not – you can’t wait for anything. You _don’t_ wait for anything. God, why was I even worried about you? Why bother? You clearly have no concern for anyone else. You have no idea what this place is!”

“What- why would you need to be worried about me for? We cleared out the area,” he tried to reason with her, backing himself up further into the dark room. “There isn’t anyone else here!”

“That’s not what I was worried about!” Wraith exclaimed loudly, throwing her arms out to the side as she stopped walking towards him. She let out a sigh before she continued. “This place isn’t normal! It- people- you don’t know what this place even is.” As she repeated the last part, Octane narrowed his eyes as her, confused by her comment and irritated by her lack of trust in him.

“Yet you do?” he shot back, slowly lowering his arms. “Then tell us what it is! What makes this place so dangerous that simply walking around it is apparently going to get me killed?”

Wraith seemed to shrink in on herself then, grapping her arms and squeezing them tightly, as if she were cold. She looked to the side, shaking her head gently. “I’m not even sure, Octane,” she said, her voice hardly above a whisper. “I don’t- remember much…”

“What do you mean?” Wattson’s soft voice asked from behind her. “You’ve been here before?” She slowly made her way into the room, metal door creaking under the weight of her equipment as she reached Wraith’s side. “What was this place for?”

“It’s… hard to explain,” she said, eyes closed, seemingly frustrated with herself. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“So, you’re allowed to have a go at me, yet you won’t explain why? Nice, Chica. That sounds fair,” Octane scoffed. “You’re making me want to explore this place more to get answers since you clearly don’t want to tell us anything.” Wraith looked up at him then, glaring coldly at him. He shrugged slightly, his cocky smile hidden behind his mask. “Anyway – if you’re not going to explain anything, I’m gonna try to look for something to explain whatever this progress bar is for.”

“Progress bar?” both the girls asked, confused. Judging from her expression, whatever the progress bar was for was wasn’t something that Wraith had heard of. Turning quickly, Octane gestured to the screen behind the glass, noticing it was still only on 1%. 

“Whatever it is, it’s taking a long time to load…” he added with a shrug. “Guess you really don’t know everything about this place, if you have no idea what that is?”

Wraith went pale once more when she saw the bar, stepping closer to it, as if getting closer would somehow help her figure out what it was for. Or perhaps she did know, and just hadn’t expected to see it? “Is- someone trying to… Oh, god – if someone is trying to hack into this place… I need to stop them. Octane, what else did you find?” she asked, turning to him with a desperate expression on her face. “Anything at all?”

“Uh, this terminal was the only other one that worked, from what I’ve seen so far, though there might have been more in the room with the portal – I didn't look around much in there,” he explained, pointing out the terminal beside him, the only real source of light in the room. “I haven’t really looked around much yet, though.” 

Perhaps she hadn’t noticed the terminal earlier, despite how bright it was compared to the rest of the dark room; perhaps she had been too furious at her teammate to see anything else. However, now that it had been pointed out, she immediately walked over to it, examining the screen carefully and, after a moment, typing something into the keyboard.

Moments after she started typing, she jumped back in shock as her voice filled the room. Or, well, a recording of her voice. 

> _Senior Science Pilot Renee Blasey, first report. The grant to test our new Phase Shift tech has been approved by IMC's ARES Division. My colleague, Dr. Singh, has his suspicions about them... But honestly, all I care about is whether or not it's true... That our dimension is not the only one. Now we just need some volunteers... Or, I'll have to do this thing myself. There are a lot of roads out there – who knows where they lead? Project Wraith... Active._

As the audio played, the three squad-mates stared in silence as they watched the blue flickering light in front of them. Once the audio cut out, after a brief pause, Wattson and Octane turned their heads towards Wraith, silently asking the question: what was that? All the while, their teammate stared down at the computer, but she clearly hadn’t noticed their stares – she looked lost in thought. She shook her head violently from side to side, a strange tick that she had, but it seemed more intense than usual. Her eyes glowed, flickering from blue to white repeatedly. It was kind of creepy to see the bright flashes of light from her eyes, so much more pronounced than usual while they stood in the darkness.

Octane waited a beat longer before a growing sense of impatience flared up inside him and he had to ask: “What was that? I thought you said you couldn’t remember this place. Why is there a recording of you? What’s Project Wraith? What's Phase Shift?”

“That-” she started, finally pulling her gaze away from the computer. “That wasn’t me.”

“Well, it sounded just like you, amigo,” he said with an uncomfortable chuckle as Wattson placed a hand on Wraith’s shoulder to try to calm her. Their mysterious teammate had began to shake, though whether it was from fear or irritation, Octane couldn’t tell. 

“You know you can tell us if you have something to do with this place, right?” the engineer said, clearly trying to sound reassuring. It didn’t seem to comfort her, though.

“It’s not _me_ ,” Wraith repeated as she pushed the hand off her shoulder and looked desperately at her girlfriend. “It’s another version of me. The- the original Wraith, I guess. But it wasn’t me in that recording.”

“What do you mean, original Wraith?” Wattson asked, eyes going wide. 

The older woman was silent for a long while. Her hands twitched at her sides and her eyes fluttered closed as she shook her head once more. The quiet was almost unbearable, and Octane had to hop on the spot to try to get rid of the nervous energy that had began to build inside of him. 

He wanted answers. He never liked not knowing something. While most of his rushes came from adrenaline, he also enjoyed discovering secrets or uncovering mysteries – that feeling of knowing something no-one else did. It was exciting. It gave him almost as much of a rush as getting shot at did – and it was fun to play around with people, hinting at things that they wouldn’t be able to understand. It could be an extremely amusing game, depending on what the secret was. 

In the silence, Octane shook out his arms as he jogged on the spot until Wattson eventually shot him a look that said, “stop bouncing around and shush,” making him slow, though he couldn’t entirely stop vibrating on the spot. 

Everything was too quiet. It was stifling. When it seemed as if Wraith was finally about to say something, to explain herself or to explain _something_ , the trio suddenly felt a powerful surge of energy rush over them as the ring in the arena began to close, damaging them slightly every second. Octane hadn’t even heard the announcement that the ring was closing, much less noticed how far it had creeped up on them. 

Clearly seeing it as an opportunity to leave the conversation, Wraith muttered “We can talk about this later, where They can’t hear us,” before she kicked the terminal in front of her, shattering the screen and sending keys flying across the floor, joining the wreckage already scattered across the floor. A moment later, she disappeared into her void, leaving behind a blue ball of light, ready to teleport her teammates out of the room and away from the danger of the ring. Octane didn’t wait for the portal to form, however. He couldn’t wait for her to drop it – it would take too long for him. His legs needed to run. So instead, he jabbed one of his stims into his stomach and raced out of the room, legs pumping beneath him, running off the excess energy that had formed inside him during the conversation they had just had. 

Questions swam through his head. Questions about what Wraith meant, who ‘They’ were and why it felt right so to capitalise that word, and what the progress was loading. Excitement bubbled under his skin at the prospect of finding out perhaps the biggest secret of the Apex Games, or maybe even something bigger. Something that perhaps even the organisers themselves didn’t know.

He needed answers. He needed to know what it all meant.

* * *

Octavio was always hyped up whenever he finished a match in the Apex Games, even if his team didn't come first. Usually, regardless of what happened, the adrenaline running through his veins had him feeling too high to care about anything for at least an hour after the match was over. But after the one he had just had, things were different. 

Their squad had come third. For a moment, he had forgotten what had happened at the start of the match, finally able to get into it as he raced around the map. The need for answers had disappeared after they entered the first firefight once they left the labs, replaced with the rush he felt whenever a bullet got too close. The adrenaline was amplified since they hadn’t had time to heal from the storm when they had encountered Lifeline and two other Legends waiting just outside the ring’s zone. After taking out his friend’s squad, he had laughed loudly and thrown himself across the map, forcing himself into multiple dangerous situations, like he did in all of the Games that he played in. His usual high had returned, speeding him up and hyping him as much as always. 

But the second he was taken to the medbay after their entire squad was downed, he saw Natalie staring across at him from where she sat in another bed, waiting to be treated. Her expression was clear – she wanted to talk once they were allowed to leave, as a trio. And so, the high Octavio felt disappeared almost immediately and need for answers returned.

Energy and excitement built in his legs as he looked at Natalie while he was examined by the doctors who treated them after each match. He met her gaze evenly and smiled widely at her underneath his mask, the fire in his eyes hidden by his goggles. Neither of them said anything while they were surrounded. In fact, he was so quiet that it probably concerned the staff that he hadn’t said anything the entire time he was being cared for – usually, he would bounce up and down, begging to be let go or telling anyone who would listen the crazy things he had done during the match. This time, while he still bounced around like an over-excited child, making the doctors struggle to get a proper look at him, he said nothing, just in case he let something slip.

He could feel the words just behind his lips, begging to be let out. Begging him to talk about what he had seen in the labs to everyone in the room. But he knew he couldn’t do that, not after seeing how Wraith had reacted to it all. If he did that, she would never trust him and he would never get the answers he wanted. In a strange way, the wait to talk to Natalie and Wraith made him more excited – the suspense was killing him. His fingers scratched at the sheets beneath him as he jostled his legs around, eager to be let go.

When he was finally given the go-ahead to leave, he leapt off the bed and rushed out of the medbay, simply telling Natalie “See you in Wraith’s room!” and hoping she would follow behind. He charged down the too-plain hallway towards the mysterious woman’s room, as she had been let out of the medbay long before he or Natalie had entered. 

Wraith had been downed during the match much earlier than either of her teammates, when around 10 squads were left. They had tried to grab her banner before it timed out but had been too busy fighting off three different squads and trying to stay alive themselves so it had timed out. She had been collected from the match early, treated and sent away long before the rest of her team finished. 

Octavio knocked on her door loudly, bouncing on his feet as he waited for her to open it. When she didn’t answer after a few seconds, he knocked again… and again… and again. Clearly, Wraith didn’t want to open the door. And standing outside a closed door was no fun, so when he finally saw Natalie start around the corner towards the room, he loudly called out to Wraith: “Open the door, amigo, before I tell ev--”

He didn’t have time to finish his sentence. The door swung open, revealing an extremely pissed-off Wraith – she looked almost as mad as she had when they were in the labs. She scowled at him and her right hand immediately darted out towards him, grabbing his top and pulling him down towards her eye-level so she no longer had to stare up at him.

“Continue speaking, and you won’t be able to say anything ever again,” she warned. 

“Ah, you’d miss my jokes. You’d never actually hurt me,” Octavio joked and tapped her hand that clutched his top. With an irritated sigh, she let go of him and allowed him to straighten himself out and step into her room. Natalie entered moments later, panting slightly from the run.

“Ma chérie, I’m sorry – he’s incredibly fast. I couldn’t catch up to him to keep him quiet,” the engineer said once her breathing returned to normal. “But we both agree. We need to talk about what we all saw today. Could we do that now, in your room?”

Natalie stared at her girlfriend with wide eyes, practically radiating innocence and purity – like always. Whenever she wanted answers, she just had to look concerned and the expression she wore would always work on everyone, even Wraith, who let out another sigh (though this one was more tired, rather than annoyed) and closed the door, leading the two of them further into her room.

Unsurprisingly, Wraith’s room was fairly dark, like most of the clothes she wore in their downtime. But it was also fairly empty. A black duvet covered her small bed, which was tucked away in the back-right corner of her room, next to a bedside table. A basic lamp sat on the table, with a few books stacked on top of each other, all with frayed spines. Her wardrobe, made with a dark-coloured wood, stood at the end of her bed, casting a long shadow over it which made the bed look even smaller and enveloped in darkness. Clothes littered her floor, a mess of navy-blue trousers or jeans; grey-to-black tops; hoodies and more. There was one TV and a two-seater sofa nestled into the corner opposite her bed. The TV looked like a fairly old model – at least 10 years old, if Octavio had to guess – and the sofa was clearly well-used, along with the tattered brown cushions which had been knocked on the floor, likely in her rush to get to the door to shut up Octavio. 

On one of the arms of her sofa, Wraith had left her laptop. Its screen was dark, though she must have just been using it recently. When she noticed him staring at it, she gestured for the two to sit down before picking up her device and sliding it under her bed. Since the sofa was a two-seater, Octavio decided to stand instead – it would let them share the sofa. Plus, he could move around without worrying about kicking someone accidentally if he sat next to them.

“What do you want to know?” the older woman asked as she sat down on her sofa, pulling her legs close to her body, as if they would shield her from their questioning looks. “I don’t know everything myself.”

Octavio looked to Natalie for a moment, waiting for her to repeat her earlier question. When she didn’t ask it after what felt like an hour (it was probably only about four seconds, really), he decided to instead: “Earlier, you mentioned an ‘original Wraith’. What did you mean by that?”

Wraith’s grip on her legs tightened and she nodded, as if she expected he would ask that first, but still wished he hadn’t. “What I mean,” she began, pausing for a while as if to build up her courage, “is that I am not originally from this dimension.”

The pair looked at her for a moment. Natalie’s expression was easy to read – she had no idea what Wraith had meant – and, even behind the mask and goggles, Octavio’s silence was a clear indicator that he didn’t understand either, or else he would have said something. When neither of them spoke for a moment, Wraith continued: “About five or six years ago, I was… kept in a facility. Called Singh Labs. Which is where we were today. And I was used in an experiment.”

“What experiment?” asked Natalie, voice full of concern as she reached out a hand and placed it on her girlfriend’s leg, eyes wide. When Wraith didn’t push it away, she rubbed her thumb softly against her leg, trying to comfort the older woman. Wraith must have appreciated it, as she looked up at Natalie with a small smile on her thin lips.

“I don’t really remember much of it,” Wraith confessed. “It was something to do with different dimensions, as the recording mentioned. But it failed, or at least, I think it did. I don’t remember much – what they did to me, or even anything before the experiments, really, including who I am – but I think that was when I started to hear the voices. I assumed at first that I was going crazy, from the drugs they kept giving me, the way they treated me or… from the experiment itself, I wasn’t sure. I mean, who knows, maybe I’d always heard the voices? Perhaps that why they chose me for the experiement, after all. As I said, I can’t really remember anything before my time in the Labs.”

“Voices?” Octavio pressed after a moment’s silence, feet tapping against the floor as he hopped in place. “You hear voices? Like… what do they tell you? Who’s voice is it? You sure it’s not just, like, your conscience?”

“No, Octavio, it’s not my conscience. The voices- they’re who tell me when I’m in danger – if I’m being aimed at, or if I should leave an area because someone else is there,” she explained calmly, as if hearing voices was totally normal. But, then again, to her, it must be, if it was all she could remember. 

“Who… are the voices, though?” Natalie asked, still clearly struggling to understand.

“They’re me – or, well, different versions of me, from different dimensions.”

“Okay… Going back to that – the different dimensions – if you can’t remember anything, why are you so sure you’re not the original Wraith from this dimension, and that that recording wasn’t you, before you lost your memories?” the engineer questioned, giving her girlfriend’s leg a slight, supportive squeeze, knowing the questions were hard to answer when Wraith looked down. 

“Because I met her. She’s in my original dimension. She saved me from the labs just under five years ago and decided to stay there. I didn’t have time to ask her why, but she made me go to hers to stay safe. So, I did.”

The trio were silent for a moment (outside of the metallic creaking from Octavio’s legs as he paced back and forth in front of the sofa) as they thought about that. Wraith had curled further into herself and she shook her head slightly as if trying to dislodge an intrusive thought – was that tick of hers because of the voices? – but she didn’t pull away from Natalie’s touch. Natalie chewed her lip as she looked down at the floor, still gently rubbing circle’s into her girlfriend’s leg. Octavio was eager to ask more questions, to find out more, but… wasn’t sure where to start. 

The idea of another dimension outside their own? That there were multiple dimensions? That sounded like something in sci-fi, yet here it was – in real life! Finding out something so fantastical was… exhilarating. It was loco. It sent a rush of excitement through him. He hardly knew what to do with himself, energy bubbling up inside of him as he grinned widely behind his mask. It was probably a good thing he was still wearing his gear from the Games – he didn’t want to be rude to Wraith about her troublesome past, in case she decided to kick him out, but… god, what an amazing discovery! And it was a secret – something only the three of them in this room knew, or at least very few people outside of it. 

It really was fun to know things others didn’t.

“If she’s you from another dimension,” Natalie finally spoke up after a moment of silence, “then you probably have the same name. Do you… want us to call you Renee?”

“No!” Wraith said immediately, sitting up suddenly and accidentally knocking her girlfriend’s hand off her leg. “The less They know about me, the better.”

“Who are ‘They’?” Octavio asked. 

“I- don’t know. But, whoever They are, I don’t want Them to know my name. I don’t know what They might do, if They find out who I really am. If They haven’t already, that is. Just… keep calling me Wraith. That’s who I am now. That’s who Project Wraith made me.”

Looking at the desperate expression the older woman wore, it was clear that whatever Project Wraith involved, whoever had organised it… They were dangerous. 

Octavio could tell from the worried, or perhaps fearful, glance Wraith shot towards Natalie before looking away again, that she knew more than she was letting on but had decided she couldn’t say more. Or didn’t want to, yet.

“What was Project Wraith… doing?” he asked. “What’s the tech she mentioned in the recording? The Phase Shift thingy?”

Wraith let out a sigh and shook her head. “I don’t really… remember what it was about, Octavio. I assume the tech is why I can travel through different dimensions and hear their voices, but… I don’t know much about it myself.”

Octavio hummed in interest, wondering how much of what she said was true – how much she genuinely didn’t remember compared to how much she wanted to keep secret, perhaps for her own protection. After all, she was forced into this situation to tell the two of them. He assumed, had she been able to go there alone before the match itself, she would never have told anyone about any of it.

“Just, please… promise you won’t let anyone else find out about any of this,” Wraith said in a low tone. “If we team up again, we can all go to the labs again and keep others from exploring it too much. And when we’re on different teams, please… make sure that your squad doesn’t go inside. At least, not until I’m sure there’s nothing in there that They could find and use against me. Please.”

Natalie nodded immediately, straightening herself up on the sofa to show how she was serious about her promise. Octavio took a moment, pretending to mull it over, before eventually he sighed slightly and said: “I guess it could be fun to keep it secret from the rest of the Legends.”

“Not just the Legends, Octavio,” Wraith told him, voice deadly serious. “No-one can know about this. Inside or outside the Games. No-one.”

“Fine, amigo, calm down. I’ll keep it quiet,” he told her, putting his hands up in front of himself. “Won’t tell a soul, compadre.”

The older woman seemed to relax into her sofa once more when he said that, nodding slightly. “Thank you, both of you. And, sorry, but please could I be alone?”

“Of course. But let me know if you need anything at all, ma chérie,” Natalie told her, leaning over and pressing a gentle kiss to Wraith’s forehead before she stood up and left the room.

Octavio remained for a moment, which Wraith clearly noticed. She looked up at him from the sofa through narrowed eyes before she repeated through gritted teeth: “I’d like to be alone, Octavio. Please could you leave.” It wasn’t a request.

“You’re still hiding something. I won’t ask what – yet – but why are you hiding it from Natalie?” he asked, ignoring her order.

“It’s none of your business, Octane. Get out of my room.”

“Si, si, I’m going. But I’ll get you to tell me eventually,” he teased, smiling behind his mask as she stood up and forcefully pushed him out of the room, almost making him fall over. He turned around, letting out a laugh as he watched her slam the door. “See ya later, Chica!”

* * *

For a few days, the trio’s plan had worked well. They decided that if one of them was put onto Wraith’s team, she would drop alone into the portal while the one who was on her team would convince their third teammate to land elsewhere with them – Wattson had been very good at this, as everyone trusted her. When they were on separate teams, Octane would tell his teammates that it was too boring and to land elsewhere, while Wattson would convince them that the portal interfered with her electric fences, so they would have to go elsewhere. 

There were times that it didn’t work out perfectly. On the second match since they had come to this agreement, when Octane was in a team with Caustic and another Legend, the older man had refused to listen to him and hand landed in the portal anyway. When they were pushed out of the portal into the labs, they had come face-to-face with Wraith and all her pure fury. She had not held back, even against Octane. Perhaps she had suspected he did it to annoy her. Either way, their team had not lasted for more than a minute before the entire squad was eliminated and they were taken back to the medbay (it had been Octane’s shortest match ever – and he hated that he had to wait an entire day before he could play again. He hadn’t forgiven Caustic for that.). 

For four days, the three had been able to keep everyone out of the labs. The added challenge had been exhilarating for Octavio. He had loved almost every moment of it (beside that one match with Caustic – he had hated that). When Wraith gathered him and Natalie together after the end of the fourth match, he was almost sad to hear that she was content with them stopping for now – though they would continue if anything else strange happened, considering the progress bar around the arena had finally reached 98%.

“Aww, it’s over already?” he whined from Wraith’s sofa, kicking out his legs and frowning at her. Without his mask or goggles on, the two easily saw his disappointment and Natalie wasn’t able to hold back a slightly amused smile from where she sat beside him. Wraith, on the other hand, rolled her eyes at him as she leaned up against the dark wall of her room, almost blending into the darkness with the black hoodie and navy jeans that she wore.

“It’s not over, no,” she told him in a monotone voice. “But I’ve checked all of the computers there now – other than the one behind the glass, but if I can’t get through, then no-one else can, so I’m not going to worry about that for now – whick means there’s no point in keeping the other Legends away. Besides, if we keep it up, they’ll grow even more suspicious. And They might start looking into why we keep going there and keeping the others out. We don’t want to draw attention to what the labs were used for, if the Games organisers don’t know.”

“Besides, with the progress bar nearing 100%, a lot of the… other Legends are more interested in that,” Natalie pointed out, as if she wasn’t one of those Legends. Octavio raised his eyebrows at her, looking at her with a smirk. “Don’t look at me like that, Tavi! I- can’t help that I’m interested in it! After the EMP and the Leviathans destroying so much of the map, I’m just worried someone is trying to destroy everything I’ve worked so hard on.” She crossed her arms and sat back further into the sofa, pouting.

The adrenaline junkie laughed slightly at her before turning back to Wraith and asking: “Any idea what that bar is for yet?”

She shook her head and sighed. “I have no idea where the hacker is. I’ve tried to break the glass to get into the other room – to see if that has any clues – but… I’ve had no luck. But the voices haven’t been concerned about it, so… maybe it’s not got anything to do with Project Wraith.”

“That’s a big maybe,” Octavio said. “Wouldn’t expect you to be alright with that, amigo.”

“I’m not, Octane,” she snapped. “I’m terrified. I have no idea what it’s doing. I have no idea who is doing it or why, where they are or who hired them to do what they're doing. But I’m just trying to be optimistic for once. None of the voices have told me it’s dangerous, so hopefully it’s safe.”

“Okay, okay, calm down, Chica!” He raised his hands up in front of himself once again before he sat forward in the sofa, bouncing his legs. “I’m just- really curious!” He rested his elbows on his legs and hid his smile behind his hands. “I wanna see what it’ll do now. What if there’s something being added to the Games?”

“They would have told us by now if they were adding something, Tavi,” Natalie explained softly. 

“I know! I know. I just want to see it now! I can’t believe I’ve had to wait almost a week to find out!”

“It’s only been a few days, Octane,” Wraith told him with another sigh.

“Si, exactly! Days of waiting. I’m going to lose my mind. I die from anticipation!”

“Well, we’ll all find out tomorrow,” Natalie said. When he turned to look at her then, the smile on his face disappeared. She had lowered her gaze to stare sadly at her hands, fiddling with a chipped nail on her left hand. Her brows were creased with worry and the deep-frown she wore was jarring, considering how she almost always had a smile on her face. Concerned, Octavio awkwardly reached out a hand and patted her back – he was never very good at comforting people. But, she seemed to appreciate it, turning to look at him and trying her best to put on a smile before she pulled him into a quick hug, which he returned.

“You don’t have to pretend to be okay, amigo,” he told her. “Not around us, anyway. I’m sorry for getting so excited. I know you and your padre worked hard on the ring’s tech… Maybe it’ll be fine.”

“That’s a big maybe,” the engineer repeated his earlier comment and let him go to look at him with a watery smile. 

“Sometimes that’s what you need,” Wraith said as she pushed herself off the wall and walked towards them. Once she neared the sofa, she bent down and pulled Natalie into a hug. 

* * *

The next day, Octane was put into a squad with Elliot ‘Mirage’ Witts and Bloodhound. It wasn’t a bad team, to say the least, but even as the team moved to stand on the platform, he had to roll his eyes at what the Hunter had decided to tell him.

“Don’t run off, felagi fighter,” they told him from behind their large mask that obscured all of their features from view (not that Octane could exactly comment on their costume choice, since he, too, had most of his face hidden by a mask). “It is better to hunt together, rather than apart. I also doubt it is healthy for you to use so many stims. Please try to limit yourself.”

“I’ll limit myself if you and porkchop can keep up with me,” he replied with a smirk. “If not, then I’m sorry, amigo, but I’ll just _have_ to use my stims. Too slow is too boring.” 

Somehow, despite their mask, Octane knew Bloodhound’s expression was disapproving as they looked down at him. Mirage, on the other hand, seemed shocked by the nickname he had been given by his teammate and fumbled over his words as he tried to deliver a decent comeback: “Porkchop? I- well- I! Okay, stimboy, you’re on. If I get a level-3 body shield first, you need to chill. If you get it first, then you can run around like an idiot!”

“Sure, porkchop. I’ll race ya to the best armour.” With that, Octane leapt off the side of the platform moments after the klaxon rang out across the map. As Bloodhound had been the jumpmaster, Mirage watched in dismay as his teammate fell alone, getting a very clear headstart in their race.

“No fair!” he called out, voice coming through the comms as the distance between them increased. “That’s cheating! Hound, please drop!”

“No – I shan’t risk the match for a bet the two of you made,” they told him calmly. 

“You’re the one who started it!” he cried out, probably clinging to their teammate by this point to try to convince them to drop.

“I simply advised him to take his health into consideration,” Bloodhound responded. "You decided to make a bet you will likely never win."

By this point, Octane had reached the ground. Ignoring his teammate’s earlier advice and muting them so he could concentrate on his upcoming fight, he jabbed a stim into himself and raced around in Artillery. Shockingly, only one other squad had dropped with him and, with the adrenaline coursing through his system, he was able to grab an R-301, some ammo and a level-2 body shield before the other three Legends had even managed to regain their balance. The team didn’t last long, to say the least.

However, when the dust settled and he took the few scraps the team had managed to gather from their loot boxes, he suddenly noticed something… strange. The klaxon that rang out as the announcer explained the ring would begin to close in a couple of minutes sounded… distorted. At first, Octane wondered if perhaps there was something wrong with his ears – after all, one of the Legends had managed to shoot a Wingman right by his head and, even though she had missed him, it had been extremely loud. 

“Um, amigos?” he called out over comms, unmuting his teammates. “Are things going a bit… loco for you two?”

“Welcome back to the party, kill leader,” Mirage said sarcastically. “I have a level-3 body shield and you don’t so I win so you have to stop rushing off by yourself… also yes, things are pec-peculi... Things are weird here, too. Honestly, it’s kinda creeping me out, man. Why is the announcer-lady sounding so weird?”

“Ah felicidades, porkchop,” Octane congratulated his teammate absentmindedly. Honestly, he was kind of waiting for Bloodhound to respond – they would likely keep a cool head during this, even if their knowledge on technology wasn’t as advanced as most of the Legends, whereas Mirage’s voice had already began to break from panic, even as he gloated about his victory.

“Please make your way to us, Octane,” Bloodhound requested, their voice even, just as Octane had predicted. “It’s not just the announcer that is messed up. The progress bar is on 100%, and something has appeared in the corner of all the screens. We are not sure what this could entail. Should anything bad happen, as it did during last season, I would prefer it if our team was together.”

“Si, compadre, I’ll be there shortly,” he told the two of them as he checked his map to see their position and raced off towards them. As he made his way towards them, he actively avoided fighting any nearby squads. That was definitely a first for him. But an interest in what the screens were displaying pushed him to run faster – he was excited to see it. Something strange was happening to the Games, and he couldn’t wait to see what would happen. A new piece of the puzzle had been discovered!

Unsurprisingly, it didn’t take the adrenaline junkie long to meet up with his teammates, despite the fact they had been at the other end of the map across the map. They had set up a makeshift camp at the Repulsor while they waited for their stray teammate to catch up. Thankfully for them, the area was inside the ring, so they were in no great rush for Octane to arrive, nor worried about being attacked thanks to Bloodhound’s unnatural ability to detect enemies nearby, as well as their bird which sometimes warned them when another squad was nearby. In fact, when Octane did finally arrive, the two were leaning against one of the walls, chatting and even making jokes. It was rare to hear Bloodhound laugh, but then again, Mirage was good at making everyone laugh (even if sometimes people were laughing _at_ him, rather than _with_ him).

“Why do I keep getting teamed up with all the couples?” Octane lamented as he arrived, breathing a little ragged but still full of energy. Ignoring Mirage’s embarrassed spluttering, he asked the Hunter: “So what’s appeared? What’s happened?”

They moved away from the wall, quickly followed by lost-puppy Mirage, and stepped out to show the nearby screen to Octane. “I believe it looks almost like a face or a mask,” they theorised, tilting their head to the side slightly. “Though Elliot seems to believe it looks like a robot and is, therefore, 'proof of a bot uprising'.” They added air-quotes to the last part of their sentence, making it clear they thought his theory wasn't a good one.

“What human looks like that?” Mirage asked to try to prove his point, gesturing desperately towards the image. “None! Clearly, Pathfinder got all his bot friends to hack into the system so that he would win all the games, become rich and make more robots so that soon there are more robots than humans so they can take over the world. There’s an uprising coming, people.”

“Um. Si, okay, have fun with that, porkchop,” Octane laughed, shaking his head. “Path is harmless, compadre. He thinks of you as his closest amigo. Don’t break his robo heart, porkchop.”

“Don’t- he- no. He’s weird. I have no idea why I even introduced him to the games – I wanted to get him away from me, but now he sticks to me like glue, yet happily shoots me when he’s on an enemy team!”

“As do all of the Legends, Elliot,” Bloodhound pointed out before they turned back towards the screen. “Regardless – do you know what it is, Octane?”

“Ni idea, amigo,” he replied with a shrug, curiosity building inside him. “Don’t know much about tech. And I don't think it's an old reference to any earlier Apex Games, so I haven’t got a clue. Sorry!”

“Troublesome. Hopefully they are able to find out what this is and put a stop to it before it causes more issues,” they said with a sigh. “But it doesn’t seem to have caused another EMP – at least not yet – so I assume we will be safe for the rest of the match. Come, felagi fighters, let’s end this quickly. Hopefully things will return to normal in time for our next game.”

* * *

Octane and his team were able to win the match. Bloodhound’s ability to detect where someone was and show their team, even if only for a split second, was incredibly helpful for a fast fighter like Octane, who was able to race towards them before they had a chance to move from where they had been seen. Mirage’s decoys had proved useful, too – after sending one behind him for most of the match, they were able to get a heads up if anyone came up behind them, as they would usually fall for the hologram and alert Mirage whenever it had been shot. 

The rush of winning a match was… indescribable, even after so many times now. He could hardly stand still to have his picture taken with his team – they always had a victory shot after the match was over. Bloodhound had to rest a hand on his shoulder to stop him from vibrating; the weight of their arm, heavily clad in their strange outfit, managing to keep him in place for a moment so that the picture wouldn’t come out terribly blurred. 

Even once the photoshoot was over, and the group was taken to the medbay for a check-up, Octavio bounced around in the ship, racing up and down. Despite not being able to see behind their mask, part of him knew Bloodhound was looking at him with a disapproving stare. It amused him though; their irritation, so made no attempt to calm himself during the entire flight back. However, the moment they reached the medbay at the shared housing, he noticed Wraith and Natalie standing just outside, giving him a pointed look. They wanted to talk again.

They waited outside the entire time he was looked over, clearly wanting to catch him before he pelted away. But he would hardly miss the chance to talk to them about it - the excitement from the win, and the excitement to uncover more about this mystery burned through him. God, he couldn’t get more hyped! Coming to the Apex Games was the best thing he could have done! There was so much here! There was no way he was going to ignore them. He was going to find out what was happening. He had to.

“Let’s go, amigos!” he told them when he was released, running over to them immediately. When they nodded and began to head off, he let out a tired sigh, bouncing on the spot for a moment before deciding to race ahead of them. “Meet you in your room, Wraith!” he called out behind him and, before she had time to object, he was gone. 

It didn’t take them too long to arrive, and since all the Legends’ rooms were locked when they were outside of them, Octavio hadn’t actually been able to get into Wraith’s room and wait for her inside, much to his disappointment. It still didn’t stop him from trying to break into it, though. As the pair rounded the corner, he was fiddling with the door-handle, shaking it violently before standing back and trying to kick it in.

“Octane – break my door and I will break you,” the older woman warned with a stern voice. He turned to look at them and, with a mischievous smile behind his mask, gave it another kick before finally lowering his leg and leaning against the wall instead. “God, you’re like a child,” Wraith complained as she input her details into the keypad outside her door and scanning her thumb to get inside. 

“Did you see the thing on the screen after it reached 100%?” he instantly asked, rushing into her room and circling the sofa. “What was it? Bloodhound said it looked like a face and I kinda agree with them. Really strange, though!”

“I- I’m not sure, not entirely, Octane,” the room’s owner replied as she pressed a finger to her temple as if she had a headache – something she had told Octavio he was really good at giving her, as if he wouldn’t take pride in that fact. Still, the subtle glance she shot towards Natalie made him question how genuine that answer was. But, with the electrician in the room, he didn’t ask.

“I think it looked like a face, too,” Natalie agreed, though her voice lacked any of its usual enthusiasm. “Though I have no idea what it could mean. Perhaps some hacker group uses it as their… what is it called? A call-card? Logo?” She pressed a finger to her lip, losing herself to her thoughts for a moment before Wraith snapped her fingers to bring her back to the present. “Whatever it is, and whatever it means, it’s definitely affecting something in the arena. As soon as it reached 100%, the announcer started to sound strange. There might be more issues to come.”

“Don’t worry, Nat, I’m sure they will fix the announcer and any other issues it will have caused,” the older woman tried to reassure her after noticing how distressed Natalie had become as she theorised what might happen, clearly getting lost in her head once more. “Or you will.”

“Thanks, ma chérie,” she muttered in return, not fully convinced but trying to remain optimistic.

“Perhaps, when we’re put into a trio again, we should go back to the labs,” Wraith suggested even though she didn’t look thrilled with the idea. “There’s a lot of computers there. Perhaps something on there will… have updated, or maybe I missed something when I was there last time.”

Octavio raised an eyebrow, knowing full-well she would not have missed anything. “Chica, you searched there for days. I doubt there would be anything new there now,” he pointed out.

“There are doors I couldn’t get behind in there – in the same room where we heard… that recording. I haven’t been able to get there, to investigate, because by the time I’ve finished fighting other squads to get them away and get rid of what I could find there, the ring is already coming in. I’ve never been able to clear it out and get behind it.”

 _Yet she wanted to quit looking just the day before?_ Octavio thought, narrowing his eyes at her suspiciously. However, with the dark goggles covering his eyes, neither noticed his glare. 

“With all of us there, I could put fences down to stop people coming in while Tavi rushes to the room to start pulling the mess away,” Natalie suggested with a smile, though it was still weaker than normal. “Fence them out! And I will be able to let you know if anyone else comes in, so we can get rid of them.”

“Good idea, Nat,” Wraith agreed. “Hopefully it won’t take too long for us to be matched up again.”

“So we’re just gonna wait until we’re all together again before we look into it?” Octavio asked with a groan. “Chica! That could be weeks! The season might be over by the time that happens!”

“I can’t risk anyone else finding out about it, Octavio!” Wraith exclaimed as her eyes flashed white once more. “I still wish neither of you knew, but now that you do, at least you can help. Because, stupid though it might be, I trust you.”

 _But not enough to tell us the whole truth_ , he though to himself, though did not voice it. Instead, he kicked at the floor, energy bubbling up inside him again, though this time out of frustration. He wanted to find out everything as soon as possible. But if they needed to be together again… ugh, it would take too long! However, he knew he couldn’t go there without being in Wraith’s squad. If he did, she would simply kill him when they landed. And probably never trust him again. She might even go there with Natalie alone, and then he's miss out on all of the secrets! He would never be able to work out what was going on if that happened…

“Mierda! Te odio! Fine! I’ll stay away,” he practically yelled, stomping in place to get rid of the irritated energy that surged through him. “But you’d better not keep anything from me, Wraith,” he added, pointing at her.

“Of course. We’re working on this together, Octavio,” she replied coolly, as if she wasn’t already keeping multiple secrets from the two of them. Secrets he would find out, one way or another. But, for now, he let out an irritated sigh and left the room.

* * *

It took an _entire week_ for the three of them to be put into another squad together. The entire time, Octavio felt like he was going to die. He almost quit waiting a couple of times. The only thing that kept him from rushing in, as much as he wanted to, was Wraith herself. If he had a way of getting inside without her knowing, he would have definitely gone in.

During the week of waiting, however, he did notice something strange in the map itself, as had all of the other Legends. The banners that displayed the champion squad and kill leader had began to glitch out as well, while the announcer's voice was still broken. The banners would flash bright white before turning black almost every single day. He had even noticed, once, that one of the banners displayed some strange coding that he didn't understand at all, along with the words “Access Denied” in red. Natalie had been distraught when she found this and had become almost as desperate to go to the labs as Octavio was. The first day that the strange coding appeared on the banners, she was almost inconsolable. Only Wraith and Caustic (of all people!) had been able to calm her down. Most of the Legends had decided to have a movie night to try to cheer her up that evening. It had worked, at least slightly, though she was clearly still distressed.

So, it was a relief to both of them the day that the trio were finally put together again. When he saw they were teamed up together, Octane actually leapt out of his seat and yelled and excited battle cry, surprising the majority of the Legends on the ship, while Wattson wrapped her arms around Wraith and smiled widely. He pelted towards the platforms before anyone even had the chance to recover him his loud exclamation and bounced around on top of it, almost hoping that it would cause it to lower sooner. It didn’t, sadly, and the ten seconds it took for his teammates to join him and for the platform to start sinking from the dropship felt like an eternity.

“Subtle, Octane,” Wraith had hissed in his ear when she pushed him out of the jumpmaster position. He didn’t even fight it, like he usually would. He was too excited to get down to argue with her about it. Besides, it wasn’t as if she was going to take him somewhere boring. No, they were definitely going to the labs. And they were going to continue investigating.

“Playing favourites, Wraith? Wattson was just as excited as me," he pointed out.

"Yes, but she was _quiet_ with it." 

"Besides, it’s been so long since I was there,” he continued eagerly, ignoring her reply. His mouth ached from behind his mask due to his wild, hidden grin. “Unlike you, I was killed the only other time I set foot in there. If I had to wait another day for us to be put together, I might not have waited. I might have just gone to it!”

“And I would have killed you, outside of the game, so that you would be permanently dead,” the older woman threatened, though he only laughed at her comment.

“I know, right? What a rush that would be!”

“Please don’t kill our friend, ma chérie,” Wattson interrupted. “I would miss him.”

With a roll of her eyes, Wraith nodded. “Sure, Nat. Won’t harm him, just for you.”

Clearly not noticing the thick sarcasm in her girlfriend’s voice, Wattson let out a small, happy squeak and pressed a kiss to her cheek, causing the older woman to blush slightly. “Merci, Wraith!”

The trio began their descent soon after, following Wraith through the portal and into the labs. They were followed by two squads – one of them being Caustic’s team, because he seemed to be almost as obsessed as getting into the labs as Wraith was. 

As the old man threw down his gas traps, Wattson placed fences around them, coughing violently as she inhaled the toxic smoke but not giving up. Meanwhile, Octane grabbed two guns and threw one, a Wingman, towards Wraith, while he kept the G7 Scout. It wasn’t exactly his preferred weapon, but it would do for now.

As Wattson got weaker from the gas, he yelled at her to get back and get something to protect herself with, as he leapt towards the old scientist. Caustic frowned as he saw the junkie land in front of him, but before he could place another gas trap, Octane managed to shoot him in the head and knock him down before racing towards his teammates finishing them off with a couple more well-placed shots while Wraith dealt with the other team in a similar way. Still, the fight lasted longer than last time Octane had been in the labs, despite how there were less squads, due to the amount of gas that coated the room. Clearly, when he landed, Caustic had managed to get a level-4 knockdown shield and revived himself without either Octane or Wraith noticing. It was only when Wattson returned, having patched herself up slightly, and punched him, had he and the rest of his squad finally been taken out completely.

“Sorry, Dr. Caustic,” she had told the older man as he lost consciousness. “Maybe next time!”

“Go make a start to clearing the room, Octane,” Wraith told him as the gas dissipated from the room. “I’ll get Wattson some more healing items while she sets up some fences.”

“Cute, protecting your girlfriend, eh, amigo?” teased Octane as he left the room. It was quiet in the hallway towards the room. The darkness was as unsettling as it had been the first time he had been in the labs, and the door was intact once more. He had to admire whoever put all of the doors back together in time for the next match each time, because it had probably been broken down multiple times by now.

He stood outside the door contemplating it for a moment – honestly, it was one of the first times he had been still all day – when he suddenly realised it wasn’t as quiet as he had first thought. He could hear someone typing...

“Someone’s here,” he warned Wraith over the comms and began to try to open the door. However, it was stuck still, blocked by the mess in the room. For a moment, he was confused as to how they had managed to get past his team, as well as through the door, but shook it off. Now wasn’t the time. He needed to get in and stop whoever was in there from using the computer.

But, hadn’t Wraith destroyed it the first time they were here? Did the organisers fix that each time, too?

“Who is it?” Wraith asked over the comms. "I'm on my way."

“I don’t know. I’m going in to check now,” he replied as he raised his leg to break down the door. It flew off its hinges after Octane kicked it twice, sending glass across the floor and revealing the dark, empty room. He narrowed his eyes in confusion before leaping over the cabinet that had trapped the door in place, getting his gun out and pointing it into the darkness – perhaps it was too dark for him to see the other Legend inside?

However, as he stepped further into the room, waving his hand out in front of him in an attempt to grab at someone in the darkness, he realised there wasn’t anyone in _this_ room and the computer Wraith had destroyed before was dark, no longer functional after she had destroyed it, even if the keyboard had been repaired. No, there was definitely no-one in this room - they were in the connected room, behind the glass.

He whirled around, gun at the ready, hearing the aggressive typing still continuing, to see a man in a bright white and green coat. Floating nearby him was a drone, painted in similar colours. His hair was black and short, revealing to Octane that he had metal spreading from his jaw up to his ear. Perhaps there was more to it, but there wasn’t much else that he could see of the man as he had his back to him. 

As Octane stepped closer to the window, his movement alerted the nearby drone, which flew closer to the man. Shocked, the mysterious man turned around, meeting his gaze for a moment before racing away. As quick as it had been, Octane had been able to see his dark eyes and the metal that wrapped around his chin, stretching down towards his neck. He had noticed the darkness under his deep, brown eyes, and the fearful expression on his face. He stepped closer to the glass, pressing his face against it to try to look down the corridor the man had raced away down, but he saw nothing. 

The man was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the read!:) Again, please let me know if there is anything not quite right. Leave a comment to let me know what you thought of it, if you want!:D
> 
> Phrases:  
> Ma chérie - My darling  
> Padre - Father  
> Felagi - friend/companion/comrade  
> Felicidades - Congratulation  
> Ni idea - No idea (who would have guessed that was the translation lmao oop)  
> Mierda! Te odio! - Shit! I hate you!

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> If you have any comments (positive, negative, or otherwise) please leave them! :) Comments will definitely help me write more, so if you want to see more, they'd definitely help me work on this.
> 
> Have any questions/wanna message me? My accounts are:  
> https://twitter.com/RandomMeerkitty  
> http://randommeerkitty.tumblr.com/
> 
> Phrases:  
> Geonbae: Cheers!  
> Heol: what/oh my god  
> Daebak: amazing/unbelievable  
> Hwaiting: you can do it/fighting!


End file.
